16 Injured When United Airlines Boeing 777 Hits Severe Turbulence

Summary

• United Airlines flight UA1890 encountered severe turbulence, injuring passengers and crew members.
• The flight was met by medical personnel upon landing, and injured flight attendants and passengers were taken to the hospital.
• Turbulence-related injuries are rare, but not unheard of in aviation.

A transcontinental United Airlines flight faced a challenging approach to its destination over the weekend, when severe turbulence during the descent injured both passengers and members of cabin crew. Nonetheless, the Boeing 777 operating the flight was able to land safely, and some of those with injuries went to hospital.

What happened?

According to The Aviation Herald, the service involved in this turbulence incident was United Airlines flight UA1890 from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Newark Liberty International (EWR). Operated by a Boeing 777-200ER registered as N788UA, the majority of the flight passed without incident.

However, while descending towards Newark, the flight unexpectedly encountered a patch of severe turbulence, with The Bulkhead Seat reporting that this left 16 of the 777’s occupants injured. Despite this, tracking data from Flightradar24 shows that the flight still landed 25 minutes early, at 16:06 local time on February 10th.

While the majority of those injured didn’t require any further treatment, a handful of hospital visits were in order. Indeed, a United Airlines spokesperson told Simple Flying that “after landing normally, the flight was met by medical personnel, and three flight attendants and two passengers were transported to University Hospital.” Meanwhile, the Boeing 777 involved has remained in service.

The flight and aircraft involved

United Airlines flight UA1890 is a daily day-time transcontinental flight that, depending on the day in question, is scheduled to depart from Los Angeles International Airport at either 08:20 or 08:25. Meanwhile, its scheduled arrival times in Newark range from 16:25 to 16:40. This cross-country corridor is a competitive one, with United serving it alongside Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and Spirit Airlines.

While Flightradar24’s data shows that the Boeing 777-200ER is generally United’s aircraft of choice on this route, the triple-seven doesn’t quite have a monopoly on its operations. Indeed, the coming days will see another widebody present in the form of the 787-9 ‘Dreamliner,’ as well as the single-aisle 757-200.

As mentioned earlier, the exact Boeing 777-200ER that was involved in the turbulence incident bore the registration N788UA. According to ch-aviation, this twin-engine widebody is 26.6 years old, and has been with United Airlines for its entire career since joining the carrier back in July of 1997. At the time of the last measurement in October 2023, it had amassed 104,953 hours and 13,922 cycles.

While turbulence is part and parcel of flying, instances where it is so severe that occupants are injured are less common. A recent example of such an occurrence came at the end of last month, involving two flight attendants on an ANA Boeing 787 that was flying to Bangkok. Meanwhile, in December, 14 people were injured after an Emirates Airbus A380 flying to Dubai encountered severe turbulence.

What do you make of this incident? Have you ever flown with United Airlines on its transcontinental route from Los Angeles to Newark? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

• 

  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