16 March 2024
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – A United Airlines flight that departed from San Francisco International Airport Friday morning lost a panel, which was discovered after landing in Oregon, the Rogue Valley International Medford Airport confirmed to Nexstar’s KRON.
Flight 433 landed safely at Medford Airport around 1:45 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The missing panel has not been found. At this time, it is unknown how the panel fell off the plane. No damage to the plane was reported, and normal airport operations resumed, Medford airport officials said.
United did not declare an emergency landing as there was no indication of damage to the aircraft during the flight. According to the airline, there were 139 passengers and six crew members on board. The plane involved was a Boeing 737-800.
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.
United Airlines Spokesperson
This is the latest in a recent series involving a United Airlines flight in connection to SFO. On Thursday, an SFO-bound flight encountered a hydraulic leak as it was about to land.
Last Friday, a Mexico-bound flight that departed from SFO was forced to divert to LAX due to a hydraulic issue. The flight, which had 105 passengers and five crew members on board, landed safely in Southern California.
KRON reached out to United for a comment about the situation. We have not heard back.
This is a developing story.