A United Airlines Boeing 737 veered off the runway at San Jose, Costa Rica this week and suffered minor damage. Moreover, a number of the runway’s lights were hit as a result of the incident.
Minor damages
According to The Aviation Herald, the aircraft involved in the incident was a United 737-800. It holds registration N73275 and was performing flight UA-1055 from Houston Intercontinental on December 31st. In total, 117 passengers and 10 crew members were onboard the flight.
At 18:33, the narrowbody veered left off the runway. Subsequently, the left main gear went off the paved surface of the runway, running over the grass for about 250 meters. The crew did manage to get the plane back onto the runway, and it rolled taxied with no further incidents.
Both the aircraft and materials at the airport sustained minor damage. However, there were thankfully no injuries reported during this event.
United Airlines Boeing 737-800 (N73275), on flight #UA1055 from Houston experienced a temporary runway 07 excursion on landing in rain at San Josè Intl Airport (MROC), Costa Rica. All 162 on board remained unhurt.https://t.co/1Ffejw78IC pic.twitter.com/y3Y8BmiJz5
— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) December 31, 2020
Investigations started
Costa Rica’s Civil Aviation Authority shared that the 737 touched down on runway 07. An investigation has since been opened to find out exactly what happened. The AV Herald adds that The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the jet suffered a lateral runway excursion, causing unknown damage to the landing gear, engine cowling, and runway lights.
More on the aircraft
According to Planespotters.net, N73275 holds Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN) 31593 and joined United’s holdings in Oct 2010. However, it was part of Continental Airlines from February 2002 before merging with the Chicago-based carrier ten years later. The plane is nearly 19 years of age and is accompanied by 359 other 737s in United’s fleet.
Altogether, even though there were minor concerns, the situation soon became under control. The passengers may have had worries for a moment, but thankfully they were all safe in the end.
Simple Flying reached out to United Airlines for comment about what happened during this event at San Jose’s Juan Santamaría International Airport. We will update the article with any further announcements from the carrier.
What are your thoughts about what happened with this United Boeing 737 aircraft? Were you on the plane when this incident occurred? Let us know what you think of the situation in the comment section.
