A United Airlines plane traveling from San Francisco to Honolulu made an emergency landing after losing parts of an engine while in mid-air Tuesday afternoon, United officials said.
Passengers recorded the harrowing in-flight experience aboard United flight 1175 with photos and videos depicting the airplane’s starboard-side engine exposed, high above the Pacific Ocean. The Boeing 777-200’s cowling, a metal covering that protects the engine, flew off during the flight, United said in a statement.
Passenger Maria Falaschi said she heard “a big bang” about 45 minutes prior to landing, after which the “plane started to shake violently.
Passengers onboard “didn’t know much,” she said, but the crew “kept us as up to date as possible.”
