Fallout of United Airlines jetliner’s engine failure over metro Denver continues with legal cases, searing memoriesOn February 20th, 2021,
a United Airlines Boeing 777 flight from Denver to Hawaii made world headlines after chunks of its engine landed across a residential neighborhood in Colorado. UA Flight 328 suffered a catastrophic engine failure just four minutes after takeoff, with no one onboard or on the ground injured. We explore the ongoing fallout from the incident one year on.
Final report yet to be released
The U.S National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) immediately opened an investigation into the incident. A team collected debris from the Pratt & Whitney PW4077 strewn across Broomfield, Colorado, while the investigation was supported by experts in “metallurgy, flight crew operations, air traffic control, maintenance records, and flight recorders.”The NTSB released a preliminary report that determined fractured blade fans as the cause, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issuing an emergency airworthiness directive demanding closer blade inspections. However, one year later and the final report has yet to be released.
United Airlines lawsuits
While no one was physically hurt from the engine failure, several passengers and Broomfield residents have pursued lawsuits against United Airlines. Claims are related to emotional distress as well as property damage.
This includes 14 passengers who opened a federal lawsuit against United in Denver. The lawsuit was dismissed after the last plaintiff reached a settlement with the airline on January 24th. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.There are still dozens of open cases filed against United in Cook County, where the airline is headquartered.
A large piece of the engine fell into the front yard of Kirby Klements, damaging his truck in the process. Klements received property damage compensation in November but is still pursuing claims for mental and emotional distress.
Klements told 9NEWS Sunday,
“We sat here for six months with a damaged truck sitting in our driveway reminding us absolutely every single day of what had happened. There was no one from anywhere that contacted us to offer any type of support or apologize or say ‘is there anything you need?’ or ‘what can we do?”
Engine directives won’t change anything
In December, the FAA released proposed engine changes to affected Boeing 777s. Former NTSB chairman Jim Hall believes engine directives won’t get to the heart of the problem.52 affected planes from United Airlines’ 777-200 fleet have remained on the ground since the incident one year ago, with plans to return the type to service this year.
Do you think the investigation into Flight UA328 has been handled effectively? Let us know in the comments.