Boeing 737 Loses Panel in Flight, Lands Safely

A United Airlines Boeing 737 landed at its intended destination as scheduled but was found to have suffered a panel malfunction mid-flight on Friday afternoon.

Flight 433 out of San Francisco touched down at Medford Airport in Medford, Oregon, and was revealed to have lost an exterior panel somewhere between takeoff and its landing around 10:20 a.m. local time.

There was no indication of a problem, and no emergency was ever declared during the flight, which had 139 passengers and six crew members on board, according to United. United Airlines said it plans a “thorough examination” of the 25-year-old plane and will “perform all the needed repairs before it returns to service.”

“We’ll also conduct an investigation to better understand how this damage occurred,” the airline added.

The Federal Aviation Administration will also investigate the incident, a spokesperson said.

Friday’s incident is at least the seventh involving a Boeing 737 in less than two weeks. The rash of mechanical malfunctions are not the only thing keeping Boeing in the headlines.  

The death of whistleblower John Barnett, 62, who was discovered in a hotel parking lot last Saturday with a single gunshot wound to the head, is not without controversy.  While the coroner’s report stated that Barnett’s wound was self-inflicted, a family friend of Barnett’s felt otherwise.

The friend told WCIT-TV in Charleston, “I know he did not commit suicide. He wasn’t concerned about safety because I asked him,” the friend said. “I said, ‘Aren’t you scared?’ And he said, ‘No, I ain’t scared, but if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.'”

On Tuesday, Boeing said in memo to employees that it was implementing a weekly compliance check for every 737 work area and additional audits of equipment.