Fuel seen spilling from the landing gear during takeoff (Picture: YouTube/NewYorkAviation)
Yet another Boeing flight has been disrupted by technical problems, this time having to do a forced landing due to a leak.
Video footage shows hydraulic fluid spilling from the landing gear of the plane as it took off from Sydney on its way to San Francisco.
Passengers had to be taken off the United Airlines Boeing 777-300 flight on Monday, and were given hotel rooms overnight before new travel was arranged the next day.
Despite the issue soon being visible, the flight continued for almost two hours, reaching 30,000 feet before the pilots turned back to Australia.
It was met by emergency services and ‘on approach, the landing gear compartment doors could be seen wide open, as well as smoke coming from one of the tires on the right-hand side of the aircraft,’ AirLive reported.
The incident with Flight 2477 is only the latest in a catalogue of issues blamed for wiping 4.3% of Boeing’s share price yesterday morning.
It comes after a former Boeing employee giving evidence of the manufacturer’s alleged safety problems was found dead.
John Barnett, 62, died on Saturday from a ‘self-inflicted wound’, a South Carolina coroner said, though it has not yet been officially ruled as suicide.
Barnett had worked at Boeing for 32 years – including as a quality manager at a North Charleston Plant – before he retired in 2017.
In the days before his death, he had been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company in Charleston.
On Monday, bloodied passengers on a Boeing Dreamliner plane to New Zealand were taken to hospital after the plane ‘just froze’ in mid air, in a terrifying moment that ‘felt like an earthquake’.
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Earlier this month, another Boeing passenger plane was forced into an emergency landing after its engine exploded and burst into flames mid-air.
In January, the US ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 jets after a plane door fell off mid-air.
It blew off the Alaska Airlines flight shortly after it took off from Portland International Airport, causing the cabin to depressurise.
The airline said the plane landed safely with 174 passengers and six crew members.
In another incident last Friday, passengers had to be evacuated from a United Airlines plane after it rolled off a runway and got stuck in the grass in Houston.
Video taken after the landing showed the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane tilted to one side with one of its wings very close to the ground.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it would ‘order the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft operated by US airlines or in US territory’.
Boeing said regarding the latest incident: ‘On Monday, March 11, United flight 830 from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport to San Francisco International Airport returned to Sydney due to a maintenance issue.
“The plane landed safely and passengers deplaned normally at the gate.’
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