United Airlines Hit with Class Action After Flight UA328 Engine Failure Caused Emergency Landing

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action alleges United Airlines’ failure to properly inspect and maintain its aircraft is to blame for a harrowing late-February flight in which an engine “spectacularly failed” over Colorado, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing while passengers feared for their lives.

The eight-page lawsuit claims United’s failure to properly upkeep the Boeing 777-200 that departed Denver International Airport for Honolulu, Hawaii on February 20, 2021—Flight UA328—caused one of the plane’s two engines to burst into flames. During the incident, the complaint alleges, the flight’s 231 passengers experienced “severe emotional distress” for “nearly 20 minutes” as air traffic control and the United pilots frantically attempted to make an emergency landing back at Denver International Airport.

Although the emergency landing was successful and no injuries were reported, passengers have suffered and will continue to suffer emotional damages due to United Airlines’ negligence, the case alleges. According to the lawsuit, the “foreseeable and severe emotional distress” experienced by passengers could have been avoided “had United operated in accordance with federal regulations.”

About four minutes after takeoff and at an altitude of approximately 12,000 feet, passengers reportedly heard “loud noises” that were followed by “severe turbulence.” The plaintiff, a Carmel, Indiana resident, says he and others were able to see out of the plane’s windows that pieces of its right engine were missing, and that the engine was “vibrating or bouncing from its normal position on the wing.” Shortly thereafter, the engine caught fire, according to the suit:

Per the case, any passengers who were unable to view the failing engine were made aware of the danger by the ensuing “yelling and chaos” on board the flight.

The following distress call, during which the cockpit fire alarm could be heard, was made from UA328 to Air Traffic Control, according to the suit:

Though the pilots cut all fuel and hydraulic fluid to the affected engine, the fire continued to burn as a result of likely damage to the fuel lines or valves, the lawsuit relays.

Roughly 22 minutes after takeoff, Flight UA328 made an emergency landing back at Denver International Airport “without further incident,” the case says.

The plaintiff asserts that he and most, if not all, other passengers feared for their lives for about 18 minutes as the plane made its way back to Denver. Per the suit, passengers experienced physical symptoms that included nausea, tachycardia, shaking, shock, and later, insomnia. The lawsuit argues that the emotional distress experienced by passengers was “entirely foreseeable” and would not have occurred had United Airlines properly inspected its aircraft.

According to the suit, preliminary results from a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation noted that at least one fan blade tore off of the plane’s engine as a result of “metal fatigue” and broke at least one other fan blade, causing an “uncontained engine event.” Per the case, fan blades can be inspected for metal fatigue using processes such as fluorescent penetrant inspection and thermal acoustic imaging, and the NTSB ordered all planes using the same engine model as the Boeing 777-200 for Flight UA328 to be inspected following the February 20 event.

The lawsuit argues, however, that United Airlines “had good reason” to inspect fan blades for metal fatigue even before this incident. According to the case, another plane of the same model and engine type with tail number N773UA experienced on February 13, 2018 an uncontained engine event caused by a fan blade that broke off due to metal fatigue. Both N772UA and N773UA have been in service since 1995 and are among the oldest 777-200 planes in commercial service in the world, the case adds.

The suit characterizes United’s apparent failure to prevent the 2018 incident from repeating itself in February 2021 as “a stunning failure of reasonable safety practices by any standard.”

The plaintiff looks to represent any passengers above the age of two years on board UA328 at the time of engine failure who experienced emotional distress.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.