It's been a busy few weeks of reports regarding close calls and unexpected incidents for US airlines. Even though this event occurred on December 18th, it has now been revealed that a United Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Maui, Hawaii, to San Francisco, California, took a steep dive and came within 800 ft of the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Quick shift

The incident on the 777-200 occurred shortly after UA1722 took off from the Kahului Airport at 14:49 local time, where it was met with stormy conditions. Looking at data provided by FlightRadar24.com, the aircraft reached 2,200 ft approximately a minute after departing. However, it quickly began descending just north of the island's Baldwin Beach Park. At 14:50, the calibrated altitude of the aircraft was just around 775 ft as the aircraft dropped over the waters along the coast of Maui.

The 777 quickly began to gain altitude, rising to 1,050 ft at 14:51. The aircraft hit 33,300 ft seven minutes later and continued eastward along the Pacific Ocean before reaching San Francisco at 21:03 local time.

The Air Current has noted that the two people familiar with the event shared that "the climb produced forces of nearly 2.7 times the force of gravity on the aircraft and its occupants” as the descent shifted to an 8,600-foot-per-minute climb.

A word from the airline

Simple Flying reached out to United for comment on this matter. The airline responded with the below statement:

“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.”

Registration N212UA, the 777 that suffered the dive, was delivered to United in July 2000. Providing the capacity for 235 economy, 102 economy plus, and 28 business passengers, the 22-year-old has conducted over 73,600 flight hours and more than 15,400 flight cycles over the years.

ch-aviation.com shares that the unit is joined by 18 other 777-200s, 55 777-200ERs, and 22 777-300ERs in the Chicago-based carrier's fleet. It was put back into action swiftly, flying to Chicago just 2.5 hours after landing on the West Coast on December 18th.

Industry woes

This news comes days after the report of passengers and crew being hospitalized following turbulence on a United Airlines Boeing 757 flying between Newark, New Jersey, and Tampa, Florida. Elsewhere, five people were injured after an American Airlines Airbus A321 collided with a passenger bus in Los Angeles.

Notably, all these events follow last month's near miss involving an American Airlines 777 and a Delta Air Lines 737 at New York JFK. US airlines and authorities will be keen to address these concerns within the industry.

What are your thoughts about this United Airlines Boeing 777 coming within 800 ft of the Pacific Ocean? What do you make of the overall incident? Let us know what you think of the situation in the comment section.

Source: The Air Current; FlightRadar24.com; ch-aviation.com