United Airlines Plane Veers Off Runway upon Landing in Houston

United Airlines faced its fourth technical incident in one week after an aircraft's landing gear collapsed upon landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston. 

The Incident

The incident occurred sometime during or after the landing of United Airlines flight 2477 on March 8, at around 8:00 a.m. local time. Flight 2477 was arriving from Memphis (MEM), Tennessee. The aircraft involved in the incident and subsequent runway excursion is N27290, a four-year-old Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft delivered to United less than one year ago. 

Audio files from the communications between the air traffic controller handling flight 2477 and the flight pilots have been obtained. In listening to them, it is apparent that the aircraft's landing gear collapsed sometime during landing, as the air traffic controller can be heard giving instructions to flight 2477 about where to turn off the runway as the flight was landing. After the arrival of emergency services to the incident site, all passengers and crew onboard the 737 MAX 8 aircraft were safely deplaned. 
 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a statement regarding the incident: "The passengers were deplaned on the taxiway and were bused to the terminal...Please contact the airline [United Airlines] for additional information. The FAA will investigate."

Previous Incidents Involving United

The March 8 incident and runway excursion occurred just a few weeks after a rudder pedal issue occurred on another United 737 MAX 8. This also marks the fourth technical incident at United Airlines in one week and the second in Houston after a United Boeing 737-900 suffered an engine stall earlier. Earlier this week, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 lost one of its landing gear wheels on departure from San Francisco (SFO). Later in the week, a United Boeing 757-200 suffered an engine failure on the descent to San Francisco (SFO). 

Other 737 MAX Incidents

In just three months of 2024, there have already been two major incidents involving the 737 MAX aircraft. The first occurred in January of 2024, when Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a MAX 9, lost its door plug at 16,000 feet and subsequently experienced an explosive decompression. United Airlines flight 2477 is the second major incident involving the MAX, this time the MAX 8. 

Boeing is already under investigation and heavy scrutiny from American regulatory authorities due to shoddy quality control on new 737 MAX aircraft and potentially major issues such as loose bolts and improperly installed plug doors on Boeing MAX 9 aircraft. It is currently unknown who is responsible for the incident.