A few weeks ago, United Airlines made headlines worldwide after a terrifying engine outage. Now, a class action lawsuit has been filed over the incident.
The basics of United’s 777 engine failure
On February 20, 2021, UA328 from Denver to Honolulu had a severe engine outage shortly after startup. The Boeing 777-200 had a total of 241 people on board, including 231 passengers and 10 crew members.
The right engine caught fire shortly after takeoff, and debris fell from the sky and into suburbs in the suburbs of Denver. Thanks to the excellent work of the pilots, the plane landed in Denver just under 20 minutes after taking off. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
VIDEO: United Boeing 777 # UA328 engine failure moments after departure from Denver International Airport on February 20, 2021. Aircraft landed safely. 231 passengers; 10 crew; 0 injuries. The work was well done by the crew pic.twitter.com/LcJpGgwDdz
– AeroSkippah (@AeroSkippah) 21 February 2021
An interesting twist in the story is that the replacement plane that United used for these passengers was a 777-200 that had a similar incident a few years ago.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its initial findings regarding this incident.
United are on trial for engine failure
A class action lawsuit against United Airlines has been filed over the UA328 incident. You can find a brief overview of the case here, and you can find the full case here. The plaintiff is trying to recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress on behalf of himself and all other passengers on board who have encountered a similar situation.
The lawsuit boils down to this:
- United has a duty to inspect and maintain its aircraft using the necessary care
- It is argued that a breach of duty was shown for something that happened this catastrophic
- United’s breach of duty resulted in serious emotional distress for passengers
- This emotional distress was completely foreseeable and would not have occurred without United’s breach of duty
To go into more detail on this is the allegation that United Airlines was negligent in not inspecting fan blades properly, especially since a similar incident occurred several years ago and similar recommendations were made. According to the case:
Preliminary results from an NTSB investigation into this incident indicated that it appeared that at least 1 engine fan blade had torn off during the flight due to ‘metal depletion’, and in the process took with it at least 1 more fan blade, resulting in an ‘uncontrolled engine event’ ’caused. ”
It is possible to inspect fan blades for metal fatigue using processes including ‘fluorescent penetrating inspection’ and ‘acoustic imaging’, and in fact the NTBS has ordered all aircraft to use the same engine models after the incident.
UNITED’s failure to ensure that what happened in 2018 does not happen again in 2021 is, by any standard, an incredible failure of reasonable safety practices.
In the case, it is alleged that passengers had serious emotional distress as a result of this negligence:
Plaintiff, as well as most (if not all) passengers, according to information and conviction, were fairly fearful for their lives due to the shattered condition of their aircraft, which starts at more than 3 km in altitude and lasts about 18 minutes.
Plaintiff as well as, according to information and belief, most (if not all) passengers suffered physical symptoms as a result of this intense experience, including: nausea, tachycardia, shaking, symptoms of shock and after the flight, insomnia.
Bottom line
A United Airlines 777 had a rather frightening engine outage, and now the airline is facing a lawsuit from passengers. I would be curious to see what comes of this case (if we assume that it is not appropriate out of court, in which case we may never find out).
I absolutely believe that this incident was frightening for passengers on board. I have flown millions of miles and experienced quite a few things already, but it would still have scared me.
That said, I’m obviously not a lawyer, so I’m not sure how much legal merit there is in this case. If the investigation reveals that this incident was similar to the incident in 2018 and that it could have been avoided with proper inspections of the fan blades, do I feel it is a case? The question is what kind of dollars can you put in for the emotional distress that passengers are experiencing.
What do you make of this United Airlines lawsuit? I would especially like to hear from lawyers.