Les Abend offers his opinion and explanation of the United flight 328 incident on Saturday, February 20, 2021. Abend is a retired American Airlines pilot, writer for Flying Magazine, and CNN aviation analyst. He is also the author of PAPER WINGS, an aviation thriller.
His article, "Pilot: What happens in an emergency like United 328" is available in part below and in full on cnn.com.
"For those who haven't had the opportunity to follow this past weekend's dramatic story, United Flight 328, a Boeing 777-200, departed Denver Airport bound for Honolulu at 1:04 p.m. local time. A few minutes into the trip, the airplane experienced what we call in the business a catastrophic engine failure. The event also qualified as an uncontained engine failure because various pieces of the engine scattered debris onto a nearby suburb. The covering of the engine, similar in function to the hood of a car and known as the cowling, completely separated from the engine...
But what was happening in the cockpit of United 328? Judging by the external condition of the engine, and the fact that at least one fan blade appears to be missing, the airplane was most likely subjected to a pronounced jolt -- one that the crew and passengers felt. Once the cowling completely separated from the engine, the normal aerodynamic flow became disrupted, causing the airplane to buffet...
But please don't condemn all B-777s. Many of them do not have the PW4000 engine installed -- and United is grounding those that do. After nine years of flying the airplane, I wouldn't hesitate to get on one."
To read the entire article, visit cnn.com.
You can learn more or purchase PAPER WINGS, available from WildBlue Press.
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