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United Airlines removed 25 of its Boeing 777-200 airplanes from service this
week after discovering it had failed to perform required inspections on the
wing leading-edge panels.
 
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the airline had disclosed the
issue to the agency after an internal audit and proposed a plan to complete
the inspections. United said on Tuesday it had canceled around 18 flights on
Monday night and Tuesday morning to conduct the inspections but did not expect
to cancel additional flights because of the issue.
 
"We've completed inspections on 10 of those aircraft, and are working with the
FAA to return others to service while inspections are ongoing over the next
two weeks," United said Tuesday.
 
The FAA said it was reviewing United's inspection plan "as well as looking
into the circumstances that led to the missed inspections."
 
In May, the FAA cleared United's 52 Boeing 777 planes equipped with Pratt &
Whitney (PW) 4000 engines to return to service.
 
The jets were grounded after a United flight to Honolulu suffered engine
failure and showered debris over nearby cities and made an emergency landing
in Denver in February 2021. No one was injured and the plane safely returned
to the airport.
 
United said Tuesday the wing leading-edge panel inspections of some of those
777-200s are not related to engines or recent engine work. The said the
inspections in most cases can be completed overnight.
 
The inspection issue was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

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