A Boeing plane was missing an exterior panel when it landed in Oregon Friday morning.
United flight 433 landed in Medford — near the border with California — at about 11:36 a.m. local time, according to FlightAware data.
Photos from the undercarriage show the exposed innards of the plane after a panel appeared to fly off at some point after takeoff.
This is the sixth safety incident involving Boeing planes in a week, after about 50 passengers were injured when a jet began to nosedive during its journey from Australia to New Zealand on Monday.
The plane in Friday’s incident is not the infamous 737 MAX, but a 25-year-old Boeing 737-824. No emergency landing was declared
There was no damage to the aircraft and no injuries reported in Wednesday’s incident in Oregon.
The plane, which was coming from San Francisco, had 139 passengers and six crew members on board.
In a statement obtained by the Rogue Valley Times, United said: “This afternoon, United flight 433 landed safely at its scheduled destination at Rogue Valley International/Medford Airport.
After the aircraft was parked at the gate, it was discovered to be missing an external panel. We’ll conduct a thorough examination of the plane and perform all the needed repairs before it returns to service. We’ll also conduct an investigation to better understand how this damage occurred.”
In Monday’s incident, around 13 people had to be hospitalised after a Boeing plane suddenly started to fall mid-air.
Daniel, a passenger onboard, recounted the experience to the New Zealand Herald, revealing that more than two dozen people were propelled into the air, crashing against the ceiling before plummeting back to their seats.
He said: “The plane dipped so dramatically into a nose dive for a couple of seconds and around 30 people hit the ceiling hard.”
This follows other incidents including an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing leaking fluid mid-air and another one landing with a cargo door slightly open, sparking fears about the safety of the popular plane manufacturer’s jets.
One Boeing whistleblower, who was found dead while in the middle of a legal battle with the Virginia-based corporation, allegedly told friends that “if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.”