Two passengers were injured after a United 757-200 aircraft was forced to abruptly slow its descent to “avoid another aircraft in the vicinity.”
United Airlines 757-200 Quickly Slows Descent To Avoid Aircraft Below, Injuring Two Onboard
On Thursday, September 19, 2024, United flight 2428 from Newark (EWR) to San Francisco (SFO) was on approach into San Francisco International Airport.
Suddenly, around 12:45 pm, pilots received an alert “while traveling through Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center Airspace,” per the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Although the seat belt sign was on, United said two passengers was taken to a local hospital for examination after the aircraft safely landed, including one who not wearing a seatbelt. Per United:
“Two customers, including one who was out of their seat at the time, reported possible injuries and were transported to a hospital.”
“We’re grateful to our crew for their efforts to ensure the safety of our employees and customers.”
(lesson: always wear a seatbelt when seated, but especially when the seatbelt light is on)
A Textbook Case Handled Well
This is still a “real” story because two passengers were injured at least sufficiently to warrant a hospital check, but the FAA confirmed, “there was no loss of safe separation” (meaning that a safe minimum distance between aircraft was constantly maintained). Since this story has been widely covered in mainstream media in a typical alarmist fashion, it merits mentioning that the alert followed by the maneuvering was a preemptive action to avoid danger rather than a response to danger.
CONCLUSION
A United 757 was forced to abruptly slow down its descent when another aircraft was picked up in the vicinity. As a result, two passengers were injured.
While the FAA is now investigating it has also already confirmed that the two aircraft were never close to colliding, so this was not a near-miss episode.
Safety first , last , and always .
Hard to blame the guy not in his seat even with the light on if he had a bathroom emergency. But the guy in his seat without a belt is an idiot unless he was in the process of getting up or just sitting after a bathroom trip.
And I agree the media lives for these type stories to shock people for views. The truth of the matter in that the system works is of little consequence.
The two was taken to the hospital,was they.
Was this a TCAS advisory or ATC command?
A TCAS advisory. They were responding to an RA.
As a retired pilot and veteran traveler, this story grabbed my attention. Despite the fact that no aircraft came close to a mid-air, the United pilot made a maneuver during descent violent enough to injure two passengers. I’m guessing negative g’s caused this. The passenger seated but not wearing a seat belt must have been lifted from his seat enough to be injured when normal flight resumed. Same for the passenger standing. I’m not sure we’ll ever get the straight story, but my guess is the the pilot flying overreacted. Either that, or we’re not getting the whole story from ATC or the airline.
Peter: As an airline pilot instructor, the TCAS collision advisory gives the pilot ample notice to make a change. However, if a RESOLUTION ADVISORY is annunciated, that advisory MUST be adhered to. This came as a result of a DHL and a Russian aircraft (I think I’m right on this) that collided over the Middle East (again not sure). One of the pilots decided that he knew better than the TCAS and a collision occurred and everyone died. We sometimes will “surprise” the pilots with a TCAS alert or a resolution alert. They are trained to “follow the flight director as shown”. TCAS is very reliable. I have gotten TCAS alerts “TRAFFIC TRAFFIC” numerous times. Looking at the TCAS screen or visually, I can see what’s going on. However, if one gets a resolution alert, there is no time to think. FOLLOW THE FLIGHT DIRECTOR. Neither one of us was aboard so we don’t know everything. On the other hand, this is a good reason to keep one’s seat belt fastened.