An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles Wednesday night after the Boeing 777 jet blew a tire during takeoff—the latest in a concerning trend of airline incidents, after another Boeing jet’s door plug blew off mid-flight in January, prompting a national ground stop and multiple investigations.
March 13
The Boeing 777 jet blew a tire while taking off from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Wednesday night, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the incident.
March 11
At least 50 people were injured when a New Zealand-bound LATAM Airlines flight suddenly dropped mid-flight, though the plane was able to land as scheduled in Auckland, New Zealand—10 passengers and three members of the crew were taken to a local hospital.
March 11
A trans-Pacific United Airlines flight headed from Sydney to San Francisco returned to Sydney due to a reported “maintenance issue” on the plane, the airline told multiple outlets.
March 9
A United Airlines flight that took off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was forced to return after the plane’s crew detected a possible oil warning light issue, according to the FAA.
March 8
Airport officials confirmed a United flight slid off the runway and completely onto the grass beside it while en route to its terminal gate at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport—the FAA told Forbes it will investigate the incident.
March 8
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Mexico City was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles due to a hydraulics issue.
March 7
A trans-Pacific United flight bound Osaka, Japan, was diverted to Los Angeles after a tire fell from the plane as it was taking off from San Francisco International Airport, damaging parked vehicles in an airport parking lot—no injuries were reported.
March 4
A United flight from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida, was forced to make an emergency landing back in Houston after one of the plane’s engines started to shoot flames midair, a frightening scene caught on video that United called an “engine issue.”
March 4
That same day, the crew of a United flight from Pensacola, Florida, to Chicago reported a gear issue on the plane, though pilots were able to land it safely in Chicago.
March 2
The tail of a JetBlue plane departing from New York scraped the runway at an airport in Saint Lucia, in the Caribbean, causing no injuries.
March 1
Smoke filled the cabin of a Breeze Airways flight bound for Pittsburgh—the smoke reportedly came from a lithium battery fire in a laptop, and the plane landed safely in Albuquerque.
Feb. 29
An American Airlines flight landed at New York’s LaGuardia airport after the plane’s crew reported smoke in the cabin, an incident the FAA is investigating.
Feb. 28
A Delta Air Lines flight landed in Syracuse, New York, after the plane suffered a reported engine issue, while an American Airlines flight on its way to Spain was forced to make an emergency landing in Boston due to a cracked windshield.
Feb. 20
The crew of a United flight reported a blown tire after the plane’s departure from Colorado Springs—the plane made a safe landing in Denver.
Feb. 6
The pilot of a United flight attempting to land at Newark Liberty International Airport reported the plane’s rudder pedal was stuck in neutral, and while the plane was able to safely land with a functioning pedal after touchdown, the ordeal prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the incident.
Jan. 16
The FAA opened an investigation into a near miss at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, when air traffic controllers suddenly ordered a Delta Air Lines flight set for takeoff to stop in its tracks, noticing an American Airlines flight cross in front of the departing Delta plane.
Jan. 15
At least 68 people were killed when a passenger plane crashed near a resort town in Nepal, the country’s worst airplane disaster in three decades.
Jan. 5
Shortly after takeoff, the door plug on an Alaska Airlines Boeing blew out, causing no fatalities, but forcing the plane to make an emergency landing and prompting a nationwide grounding and multiple federal investigations.
Tangent
Boeing, one of only two major commercial jet manufacturers in the world, has faced heavy criticism over the safety of its 737 and 737 MAX jets, the company’s best selling aircraft. While its MAX planes have only been in service since 2017, they have come under heavy scrutiny following two fatal crashes within months of each other, including an Ethiopia Airlines flight that crashed in March 2019, killing all crew and passengers on board, and a Lion Air flight that descended into the Java Sea, killing everyone on board. The FAA grounded the MAX jet after those crashes, but cleared it to resume flights in 2020. More recently, Boeing is facing scrutiny after a door plug dropped from a flight midair, an incident that prompted the FAA to launch an investigation and order a temporary ground stop of Boeing 737-9 MAX jets in the U.S. Another investigation by the NTSB later found the Alaska Airlines jet in use had missing bolts on the door plug, with the organization warning Boeing has a “quality control problem.”
Contra
The FAA issued a so-called safety call to action last February, saying the federal agency plans to take a “critical look at the U.S. aerospace system’s structure, culture, processes, systems and integration of safety efforts” following a string of close calls. Billy Nolen, the agency’s former administrator, said the FAA “cannot take this for granted,” adding “recent events remind us that we must not become complacent.”