Original title: The U.S. airliner suddenly dived and crashed into the Pacific Ocean, “only 5 seconds away from the impact”, the U.S. launched an investigation
[文/观察者网 刘程辉]
“I later found out that we were only 5 seconds away from hitting the surface of the sea.” United Airlines passenger Rod Williams (Rod Williams) was terrified.
The American aviation media “The Air Current” magazine (The Air Current) disclosed on February 12 that on December 18 last year, a Boeing 777-200 passenger plane of United Airlines suddenly plummeted shortly after takeoff, and was once less than 750 meters above sea level. Feet (about 236 meters), the plane pulled up in time and flew safely to its destination. Thirty-six people were injured, 11 of them seriously. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the matter.
Airstream magazine and CNN coverage on the matterThe Boeing plane was flying Flight 1722 from Maui, Hawaii to San Francisco, California. According to data from the Flightradar24 platform, less than a minute after takeoff, the plane that had climbed to 2,200 feet (about 670 meters) suddenly fell, and dived to the sea level at a speed of nearly 8,600 feet (about 2,600 meters) per minute. Fall to within 750 feet (about 236 meters) of altitude. According to two people familiar with the matter, the aircraft generated an overload of about 2.7G during the sudden pull-up process. The entire event lasted approximately 45 seconds. The plane later climbed to an altitude of 33,000 feet (about 10,058 meters) and arrived in California 27 minutes early.
The flight path of flight 1722 after taking off（Flightradar24）Passenger Rod Williams told CNN that the plane appeared to be flying normally at first, but then climbed at a “worrying speed” for a few seconds.
“It felt like you were climbing to the top of a roller coaster, that was the moment.” Williams recalls the screams that filled the cabin when the plane suddenly began to dive, and everyone felt that something was wrong. Williams said he was trying to stay calm and that the situation was “very tense, you didn’t really get a chance to talk or think about something, you just grabbed your seat and whispered your prayers …”
“Now I realize what happened, we were only 5 to 5.2 seconds away from hitting the sea level,” Williams said.
“Airflow” magazine pointed out that this incident had not been disclosed by the media before, nor did it receive much attention. On February 12, United Airlines spokesman Joshua Freed declined to comment on what might have caused the plane to drop, saying only that there were no mechanical problems with the plane. After the plane safely arrived in San Francisco, the pilot filed an “appropriate safety report,” he said. He declined to say how many passengers were on the flight. The Boeing 777-200 can carry 312 passengers.
“Safety remains our top priority,” Fried said in a statement, adding that United has “in close coordination” with the FAA and the Air Line Pilots Association investigating the incident. thing.
Fried added that the pilots had about 25,000 flight hours in total and were receiving additional training, but declined to elaborate on what kind of training.
United Airlines Boeing 777-200 airliner (pictured by Airstream magazine)The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Twitter on the 12th that it will investigate the incident and expect a preliminary report in two to three weeks.
An FAA spokesman said the pilot voluntarily reported the incident to the agency’s Aviation Safety Action Plan (ASAP), but the reports are confidential and the agency reviews submissions and then “identifies any adjustments that need to be made.” “.
The New York Times could not immediately reach the Airline Pilots Association for comment on the 13th.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) noticed that this is just one of the potentially dangerous incidents exposed by the US aviation industry recently. A Delta Air Lines flight paused on the runway during takeoff at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in January to avoid an American Airlines plane. On February 4, a FedEx cargo plane aborted landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas to avoid a Southwest Airlines plane.
On January 10, a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 had a similar incident. During the climb after the plane took off from Doha Airport, the crew lost consciousness for a while, causing the plane to fall at a speed of 3,000 feet (about 914 meters) per minute, and finally pulled up urgently at an altitude of 800 feet (about 243 meters) above the sea.
