• 

  United Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  UA/UAL

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Denver International Airport, Guam International Airport, Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1931

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  CEO:

  Scott Kirby

  Country:

  United States

• 

  Boeing

  Stock Code:

  BA

  Date Founded:

  1916-07-15

  CEO:

  Dave Calhoun

  Headquarters Location:

  Chicago, USA

  Key Product Lines:

  Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Boeing 787

  Business Type:

  Planemaker

A month ago, a United Airlines Boeing 737-900 aircraft had to return to its origin airport – not once, but twice. Information on this incident, which happened on Monday 11st July, has now been released.

The aircraft involved carries the registration N38459 and is pictured in the photo above. It is just 10 years old, and United is the only airline ever to operate it.

The aircraft was operating flight UA750 as scheduled. The flight departs Calgary International Airport (YYC) at 13:54 and arrives in Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) at 18:59.

On the day of the incident, there were 178 people on board N38459. Little did they know that they would take many more hours than expected to land in Texas.

Engine overheat

The aircraft was climbing out of Calgary as scheduled when the crew received a right-hand engine (CFM56) overheat indication. It then decided to return to Calgary.

Once there, it received a maintenance intervention. By the time this finished and by the time the aircraft took off again, almost four and a half hours had passed since the original scheduled time of departure.

Once again, as the aircraft was climbing at an altitude of 13,000 feet, the crew received an indication of a right-hand engine overheating. The incident report suggests that the crew then worked its way through the related checklist and reduced the engine to idle. This then extinguished the overheat indication.

The aircraft returned to Calgary once again and landed safely for the second time. Maintenance went over it again.

What did maintenance do?

According to the report by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB), there had been no Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) exceedance.

Maintenance crews replaced multiple parts on the aircraft after they found faults with both the right-hand engine fire loops. All engine fire loops and the engine core harnesses were replaced, as was the engine/APU fire detection module.

What happened to the aircraft?

The aircraft finally took off from Calgary, heading for Houston on 14th July, so three full days later. It returned to Houston under the flight number it was due to take on the day it was diverted to Calgary twice, UA750.

The aircraft that had flown the first leg of the rotation as flight UA2205 from Houston to Calgary on that day, registered as N78448, stayed in Houston for two full days, only returning from Calgary to Houston on 16th July.

Discover more aviation news here.

The aircraft involved in the incident has been fully operational since its repeat diversion on that 11th July. It has not had any diversions since that would indicate ongoing issues with that particular aircraft, but it did have one major delay.

At the time of this article being published, the aircraft was in Rafael Hernández International Airport (BQN) in Puerto Rico, where it was stuck overnight after a heavily delayed inbound arrival on what was meant to be a late-evening rotation from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Instead of arriving in BQN at 23:53 yesterday as scheduled, it landed at 03:30 this morning, so with almost a four-hour delay.

Presumably, due to maximum crew hours, the flight back is now delayed by 19 hours, and it will take off from BQN for EWR at 20:10 local time tonight, instead of at 01:05 as scheduled.

Source: The Aviation Herald