In another Boeing mishap, a United Airlines plane landed Friday at Medford Airport in Portland, Oregon, without an external panel. Fox News reported.
In a statement, United Airlines announced that its flight 433, which took off from San Francisco, landed at Medford Airport around 1:45 p.m. PDT on Friday with 139 passengers and six crew members on board.
However, the statement also revealed that the Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the flight was “found to be missing an external panel” while parked at the gate.
The statement added: “We will conduct a thorough examination of the aircraft and make any necessary repairs before it returns to service. We will also conduct an investigation to better understand how this damage occurred.”
While some sources have reported that the plane lost the panel during the flight, United Airlines said the plane did not declare an emergency while en route to Medford “as there was no indication of damage during the flight.”
Following the mysterious incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into the incident to discover how the 25-year-old plane lost an external panel before landing in Oregon.
Boeing had no comment and directed questions to United Airlines. According to FAA records, the plane was built in late 1998.
Traffic was briefly stopped at the airport to search for the panel.
The US aviation industry is receiving increasing attention following the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 mid-air emergency that was caused by a door plug explosion.
Additionally, Boeing has come under intense regulatory scrutiny for its safety and quality standards after several incidents involving its aircraft were reported.
United has announced that the plane involved in Friday's incident will remain grounded until repairs and investigation are completed before returning it to service.
