Previously unreported, United Airlines flight 1722 traveling to San Fransisco from Maui is now being investigated by The National Transportation Safety Board.
On Dec. 18, 2022, at around 2:49 p.m. Hawaii time, the United flight came close to 800 feet from the surface of the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff. According to the first report of the incident, by The Air Current, “Granular data analyzed with Flighttradar24 showed the aircraft reached roughly 2,200 feet before beginning a steep dive that, according to the tracking telemetry, reached a descent rate of nearly 8,600 feet per minute.”
It is unclear whether or not the Maui air traffic controllers were aware of the incident. Soon after the plane had recovered to around 3,000 feet, “the controller cleared the 777 to proceed to Waypoint Ebber, a navigation intersection 190 miles east of Maui,” said The Air Current.
Rodd Williams, a passenger on the flight, told CNN, “It felt like you were climbing to the top of a roller coaster. It was at that point,” Williams said. “There were a number of screams on the plane. Everybody knew that something was out of the ordinary or at least that this was not normal.”
“When the plane started to nosedive, multiple screams are being let out, at that point,” Williams said. “You’re trying your best to maintain your composure — there’s obviously kids on the flight — nobody really knows what’s going on, but at the same time, you’re concerned. You don’t know if this is an issue, but it was certainly out of the ordinary.”
Williams said he and his wife looked at each other with their children between them during the suspenseful descent: “It’s tense, you don’t really have a chance to speak or to conjure up words, you’re just kind of gripping the seat and praying under your breath,” he said. “I asked her later and sure enough … we were praying for a miracle, because we felt like this could be it,” Williams added in his interview with CNN.
United spokesperson Josh Freed told The Guardian that the pilots had a combined 25,000 hours of flying experience between them and have “fully cooperated” with the investigation.
Correction: An early version of this story said the flight number was 777. The flight was 1722. The plane was a Boeing 777.