Report: United flight dives within 775 feet of impact with Pacific Ocean
A passenger flight from Maui to San Francisco nearly impacted into the Pacific Ocean in December, according to a recently released report.
According to The Air Current, Flight 1722, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200, left Maui en route to San Francisco at 2:49 p.m. Hawaiian time on Dec. 18, 2022.
The flight left in stormy weather and appeared to climb normally, according to data from Flightradar24.
Flight data shows the aircraft reached about 2,200 feet before beginning a steep dive, where the plane reached a descent rate of nearly 8,600 feet per minute.
The flight recovered, but not before descending below 775 feet. To put that in perspective, the Space Needle is 605 feet tall.
During the recovery, the climb pulled 2.7Gs on the craft and passengers as the plane ascended to an 8,600 feet per minute climb.
As part of its reporting on the steep dive by United Airlines flight UA1722 after departure from Kahului last December, @theaircurrent analyzed data from Flightradar24. Review and download the data at https://t.co/Ao9YDwt5AL pic.twitter.com/a09oqteYEL
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 12, 2023
The entire incident took no more than 45 seconds.
The plane would eventually reach 33,000 feet and land in San Francisco just over four hours later.
According to The Air Current, there was no communication between the flight and air traffic controllers about the incident, even to ensure there were no threats of hijacking or mechanical concerns.
