A United Airlines flight traveling from Maui to San Francisco came within 800 feet of hitting the Pacific Ocean shortly after departure in December, according to reports.
After reaching an altitude of 2,200 feet, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 suddenly plunged at a rate of nearly 8,600 feet per minute and came within 800 feet of hitting the Ocean, The Air Current reported.
United Airlines flight 1722 left Maui for San Francisco around 2:49 p.m. on December 18, with heavy rain conditions at take-off, clouds broken above 900 feet, and overcast at 2,000 feet.
One passenger compared the flight to a “roller coaster.”
“It felt like you were climbing to the top of a roller coaster. It was at that point,” Rod Williams told CNN. “There were a number of screams on the plane. Everybody knew that something was out of the ordinary, or at least that this was not normal.”
File/A United Airlines Boeing wide body 777-200 aircraft as seen during take off and flying phase, passing in front of the air traffic control tower while the plane is departing from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport AMS towards Houston IAH in the United States of America as flight UA21 on January 30, 2023 ( Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The United flight left the same day that 36 people were injured due to extreme turbulence around the Maui area on a flight traveling from Phoenix to Honolulu. However, the United flight did not receive the same social media attention as the flight that was impacted by turbulence.
A United spokesperson said the pilots filed an internal safety report when they landed in California, and the aircraft was also inspected before traveling to its next destination.
“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,” the spokesman said.
The pilots have “fully cooperated with the investigation and their training program is ongoing,” the spokesman added. However, the spokesman declined to say how many passengers were aboard the flight, which had a maximum capacity of 312 people.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced that the agency had already “reviewed the incident” and taken “appropriate action.”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.