United Airlines Boeing 777 Returns To Newark After Possible Loss Of Cabin Pressure

A United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, Registration N786UA, returned to Newark approximately four hours after departure due to a cabin pressurization issue. The aircraft was en route to Rome when pilots detected a technical issue onboard the plane. The pilots declared an emergency before turning around to return to Newark. The aircraft landed safely and no injuries were reported.

United Airlines Flight 510

On September 13, Flight UA510 was performing a routine passenger service between Newark (EWR) and Rome-Fumicino (FCO) in Italy. The flight, operating on a Boeing 777-200ER, departed 40 minutes behind schedule at 21:20 local time, for an 8 hour and 10 minute flight to FCO. The 26-year-old aircraft was almost full, carrying 270 passengers and 14 crew members.

Nearly 45 minutes after departure, the aircraft was cruising at 37,000 ft (11,300 m) at a speed of 530 kts (610mph, 980 km/h) when pilots detected a cabin pressurization issue in the cockpit. The pilots declared an emergency before abruptly descending to 9,000 ft (2,750 m). Data from FlightRadar24.com shows that the aircraft dropped by more than 28,000 ft (8,530 m) in a matter of minutes.

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

Following the depressurization warning, the pilots began the sudden descent. The aircraft leveled off at 9,000 ft and continued in a holding pattern near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The aircraft continued towards Newark at an approximate speed of 300 kts (350 mph, 550 km/h) for two hours before landing on runway 4L at EWR.

United Airlines sent a replacement aircraft to Rome carrying the passengers from the original flight. The replacement aircraft, another Boeing 777-224ER (Registration N78001) departed the following morning at 03:33 (just over six hours after the returned flight) and arrived in Rome at 17:08 local time.

Fox News reported that that the United spokesperson acknowledge the return of the flight as a return of the loss of cabin pressure. The aircraft was inspected upon return to identity the results of the events that unfolded during flight. The inspection did not reveal the problem with the cabin pressurization. The United spokesperson also states to Fox News that,

The United Boeing 777-200ER

The aircraft in question was delivered to United Airlines in April 1997. The aircraft is powered by two Pratt & Whitney 4090 engines. A different United Boeing 777-200 aircraft having a similar set of engines was involved in an uncontained fan blade out (FBO) event in February 2021.

Material fatigue caused one of the blades to rip off during flight, detaching portions of the engine cowling and inner beam of the nacelle from the engine. The engine caught fire minutes after departure and the aircraft returned to Denver International Airport (DEN) nearly 25 minutes after departure. None of the 239 occupants onboard, and others on the ground due to falling debris, were injured.

Photo: NTSB

Following the incident, both Boeing and Pratt & Whitney took significant measures to strengthen the engine cowlings and the nacelle components with reinforced material. Moreover, the inspection and maintenance procedures were also revised as a result of the Airworthiness Directive (AD) issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The recent incident will be further investigated to reach the root cause of the cabin pressurization event.

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Source: Fox News