A Munich-bound United Airlines flight was forced to return to Washington after it suffered an engine failure shortly after take-off on July 25.
Flight UA108—a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner—had reached about 5,000 feet, just minutes into the flight, after which it declared a “mayday" emergency.
This comes just a month after the devastating crash of a London-bound Air India flight (a Boeing 787 Dreamliner) that crashed seconds—not minutes—after take-off into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad, killing 260 people in total.
The pilots notified the air traffic controller, kicking off emergency measures prior to attempting a landing, according to flight tracking data from Aviation A2Z.
The flight was maintained at a height of 6,000 feet North-west of Washington as per a request from the air traffic controllers. From there, it was told to avoid other flights and initiate fuel dumping protocol.
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UA108 continued to circle at 6,000 feet in a holding pattern for about two-and-a-half hours, after which it was able to land again at the Washington Dulles Airport, without incident.
The United Airlines incident follows an American Airlines flight scare at the Denver International Airport on Saturday. Passengers aboard flight 3023 were evacuated using the flight's emergency slides after reports of smoke emanating from inside the cabin.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), all the 173 passengers on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8 were evacuated and taken to the terminal by bus.
The FAA later clarified that the Miami-bound flight's "possible landing gear incident" had occurred due to an issue with one of the aircraft's tyres.