A United Airlines Boeing 777 nearly crashed into the sea after plunging 1,400 feet in 18 seconds on a flight from Hawaii

On 18 December 2022, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 registered N212UA came within 800 feet of the Pacific Ocean after plummeting 1,400 feet in just 18 seconds shortly after takeoff from the sky off from Maui, Hawaii, on its way to San Francisco.

The previously unreported incident further fuels concerns about major safety and operational issues occurring in US aviation involving Boeing aircraft recently.

United Airlines Flight UA1722 took off from Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) in stormy weather and climbed to an altitude of 2,200 feet before rapidly beginning to descend.

The flight plummeted to 775 feet, bringing it frighteningly close to the ocean before quickly recovering and resuming its climb to 33,000 feet, The Air Current reported.

The incident lasted 45 seconds and the passengers had to withstand a 2.7G force of a plane descending at a speed of 8,600 feet per minute.

It’s unclear whether air traffic controllers noticed the terrifying incident in Maui, and released records between pilots and air traffic controllers do not mention the event.

A United spokesperson confirmed the incident took place and said an official internal safety report was filed by the pilots and the plane was inspected after the trip. Between them, the pilots had logged 25,000 flight hours.

United did not report the incident to the National Transportation Safety Board.