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Home  >  News • United Airlines  >  United Airlines Cancels Boeing 777-200 Flights After Maintenance Snafu
NewsUnited Airlines

United Airlines Cancels Boeing 777-200 Flights After Maintenance Snafu

Matthew Klint Posted onSeptember 21, 2022September 21, 2022 10 Comments

United Airlines temporarily grounded 25 Boeing 777-200 jets after finding during a routine audit that it had failed to properly inspect the wings of the aircraft. A handful of flights were canceled and inspections are ongoing.

United Airlines Grounds 777-200 Aircraft After Discovering Missed Wing Maintenance Inspections

Beginning on Monday evening, a number of United flights operated by 777-200 aircraft were suddenly canceled, with United issuing a cryptic message:

Your flight is canceled because we needed to take the plane out of service to address a technical issue. Your safety is our priority and we’re sorry for the inconvenience.

By the end of the day, 18 flights were canceled, including:

  • UA1666 SFO-EWR (N796UA)
  • UA788 EWR-SFO (N796UA)
  • UA918 IAD-LHR (N791UA)
  • UA932 IAD-FRA (N788UA)
  • UA2059 SFO-EWR (N786UA)
  • UA30 EWR-MUC (N785UA)
  • UA2215 EWR-LAX (N782UA)
  • UA915 IAD-CDG (N224UA)
  • UA149 EWR-GRU (N227UA)
  • UA106 IAD-MUC (N216UA)
  • UA31 MUC-EWR (N216UA)
  • UA148 GRU-EWR (N217UA)

Upon checking the tail numbers, it became clear that the issue was impacting Boeing 777-200 aircraft with Pratt & Whitney engines (the same subfleet that was grounded for more than a year after an engine issue on a Denver – Honolulu flight).


> Read More: Midair Engine Explosion On United Airlines 777-200 With 231 Passengers Onboard


This week’s issue, however, is not related to engines but wing slats. Per the Wall Street Journal, United discovered that it had failed to perform required inspections of panels on the front edge of the wings of 25 jets and therefore took them out of service until such inspections could be performed. Interestingly, United discovered the problem during an internal audit and immediately reported it to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The missed inspections were intended to check the area of the wing where slats extend during take-off and landing to generate lift.

As of Tuesday night, 10 of the 25 inspections were complete, with those aircraft back in service. While 18 flights were ultimately canceled, United does not expect any further cancellations. The inspections will be complete by the end of next week, with a United spokesperson confirming:

“We’ve completed inspections on 10 of those aircraft, and are working with the FAA to return others to service while inspections are ongoing over the next two weeks.”

CONCLUSION

It is not clear how this inspection was missed in the first place, but United caught it during an internal audit and promptly reported the matter to the FAA. It is now completing its inspections and will restore these 777 aircraft to service as soon as the inspections are complete.

image: Bill Abbott

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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10 Comments

  1. 100k Reply
    September 21, 2022 at 2:53 pm

    How could they miss that? You can’t get thru any application online (eg new credit card) unless everything is completed. Will they be fined? Or maybe passengers weren’t put at risk. Could be I guess.

  2. Malik on Wall Street Reply
    September 21, 2022 at 3:17 pm

    Kinda shocked how they missed that but at least they were able to find out before anything bad happened to passengers. Hope they’re able to fix it

  3. Random gawande Reply
    September 21, 2022 at 4:16 pm

    The passengers on flights heading
    Leaving EU did well. Probably got hotel and EU261 compensation.

    The other flights, i hope the passengers were happy to get screwed in service of capitalism.

  4. Jared Houser Reply
    September 21, 2022 at 5:51 pm

    One of my employees was on a flight from LAX-IAD-FRA, (in business class) but when the FRA flight got canceled they had to get a hotel in Dulls for the night, and then the next day fly backwards doing IAD-DEN-MUC.

    They offered a $75 travel certificate which is a complete joke. What kind of compensation should this cancelation be entitled to?

    • Gravelly Point Guy Reply
      September 21, 2022 at 9:52 pm

      You’re a very generous employer Jared!!

  5. Willem Reply
    September 21, 2022 at 9:23 pm

    If they could just take these “Megabus” planes completely out of service and replace ‘em with more normal 777s, that would be perfect. Or A350s or something without 8-across Biz lol

  6. billnye Reply
    September 21, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    Kudos to United. They royally screwed up. They took responsibility.

  7. JFlyer1 Reply
    September 22, 2022 at 9:16 am

    Even thought it’s not exactly related to the slats inspection on 777-200 one of the aircraft flying EWR-GRU last night had to turn around due to a hydraulic failure and sparks coming off the fuselage… how ironic the timing LOL

  8. Paper Boarding Pass Reply
    September 22, 2022 at 9:26 am

    I bet someone keyed the wrong inspection date or failed to enter the inspection in the maintenance calendar data base.
    An alert employee took notice; alarm bells rang; and a few managers got a royal dressing down!!

  9. Flying Machine Reply
    September 22, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    Ouch, I’m on UA 149 EWR GRU first week of October. It’s currently showing a 777–200 should I be concerned and proactively contact UA? Seems that half of the inspections have been made to date, I just checked my itinerary all looks good. Thought I’d get the opinion of the membership here. Thanks in advance

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