United B772 at Kahului on Dec 18th 2022, pilots filed safety report
Last Update: March 9, 2023 / 11:36:30 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 18, 2022
Classification
Incident
Airline
United
Flight number
UA-1722
Departure
Kahului, United States
Destination
San Francisco, United States
Aircraft Registration
N212UA
Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200
ICAO Type Designator
B772
The aircraft remained on the ground in San Francisco for about 2.5 hours, then departed for its next flight.
The FAA reported: "The United Airlines flight crew reported the incident to the FAA as part of a voluntary safety reporting program. The agency reviewed the incident and took appropriate action." but did not elaborate on what incident occurred and also did not comment on a report that had surfaced on Sunday (Feb 12th) whether this report had any merit or not.
The Airline stated:
After landing at SFO, the pilots filed the appropriate safety report. United then closely coordinated with the FAA and ALPA on an investigation that ultimately resulted in the pilots receiving additional training. Safety remains our highest priority.
Additional points:
- The pilots fully cooperated with the investigation and their training program is ongoing
- The two pilots involved have approximately 25,000 hours of flying experience between them
- This was not NTSB reportable.
Again, the airline did not elaborate on what occurrence had happened and did not comment on the story that surfaced on Sunday and is currently going around the world without any further check, assuming these FAA and Airline Statements confirm that narrative.
One radar website claims, the aircraft had reached 2200 feet MSL (according to standard pressure) on Dec 19th 2022 00:50:45Z, then entered a descent passing 1550 feet at 00:50:51Z and reaching 775 feet at 00:50:57Z. The aircraft subsequently climbed again. Taking those data into account, the aircraft would have dropped 1425 feet in 12 seconds maximum which requires about free fall acceleration (9.81m/s/s) without taking into account any drag and airflow around the aircraft still causing residual lift even in the unlikely case that the main wings would have been entirely stalled.
Other radar sites as well as official FAA ASDI data do not show any descent during the climb at all, these data only suggest a slower than normal climb.
Neither recordings show the aircraft turning but rather climb out on a very straight track.
The report that surfaced on Sunday claims that the aircraft experienced an acceleration of about +2.7G during the recovery, which would be beyond structural design limits and would render this occurrence at least a serious incident requiring a NTSB investigation. However, there is no indication that the NTSB opened an investigation (the NTSB so far has not responded to our inquiry) and the airline states: "This was not NTSB reportable." In addition, if indeed 2.7G were encountered, passengers would certainly have reacted and this occurrence would have been all over the media the next day at the very latest. If the FDR indeed had recorded 2.7G, then the aircraft could not have flown within 2.5 hours after landing due to the mandatory structural inspection.
The FAA's point of a "voluntary safety report" by the crew also suggests this was NOT a reportable (serious) incident as the report of Sunday suggests.
We have several inquiries including a Freedom of Information Request open with the FAA, NTSB and United to find out more details about this occurrence, that remains unclear at this point. If and when we receive further information, we shall update our report, of course.
On Feb 14th 2023 the NTSB told The Aviation Herald: "The event you referenced was not required to be reported to the NTSB.", nonetheless, the NTSB have opened an investigation now, a preliminary report can be expected in 2-3 weeks.
On Mar 9th 2023 the FAA responded to our FoIA requests: "The search revealed no records responsive to your request seeking records regarding the incident on December 19, 2022. The records you sought are outside of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 45-day record retention period."
From my editorial point of view it is clear however, that the occurrence did not happen along the lines of the report that surfaced on Sunday.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 18, 2022
Classification
Incident
Airline
United
Flight number
UA-1722
Departure
Kahului, United States
Destination
San Francisco, United States
Aircraft Registration
N212UA
Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200
ICAO Type Designator
B772
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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