Internet sees red as United Airlines plane loses panel mid-flight amid Boeing whistleblower's sudden death

MEDFORD, OREGON: The latest mishap for aircraft giant Boeing happened on Friday, March 15, when a United Airlines plane lost an external panel mid-flight. This was only discovered when it landed at an Oregon airport, TMZ reports. 

The accident comes days after John Barnett died while in the middle of a retaliation lawsuit against Boeing. The whistleblower alleged that the company had been cutting corners on safety measures for years. Cops said that Barnett took his own life while his attorneys have been calling it a murder. 

What happened to United Airlines aircraft? 

United Airlines Flight 433 departed from San Francisco around 10.20 am local time and landed safely at its intended destination, Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, about 70 minutes later, according to airport officials and flight data.

Airport director Amber Judd told The New York Post in a statement that once the jet arrived at the gate, it was discovered that an external panel was missing. As a result, airport operations were suspended while a safety inspection of the runway was carried out. 

139 passengers and 6 crew members were on board, yet there was never any indication of a problem or emergency reported. Airport workers looked throughout the airport grounds for the missing panel, but they were unable to find it.

"After finding no debris on the airfield, normal operations at MFR resumed a few minutes later,” the statement by the airport said.

United Airlines said it plans a “thorough examination” of the 25-year-old plane and will “perform all the needed repairs before it returns to service.”

"We’ll also conduct an investigation to better understand how this damage occurred,” the airline added.

According to a spokesman, per Post, the Federal Aviation Administration will look into the incident as well. This terrifying accident is at least the seventh Boeing-related occurrence in the past two weeks. Due to a "possible mechanical issue" on a Boeing aircraft, an American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, March 13 night.

On Monday, March 11, a United Airlines Flight heading from Sydney to San Francisco, was forced to turn around mid-flight due to a hydraulic leak.

Before that, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner en route from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand experienced a technical issue that resulted in injuries to 50 passengers. On March 7, a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Japan was forced to divert to Los Angeles International Airport due to a tire that came off the Boeing 777-20 after takeoff, causing damage to cars parked in a nearby lot.

Internet reacts to the United Airlines mishap 

There were several comments made by social media users over Boeing's latest mishap, with many people saying that Barnett, who called out the giant aircraft company was right. 

A Facebook user said, "There goes Boeing stocks. Glad I sold those assets last year!" 

Another user said, "Boeing is literally falling apart!" 

The next user wrote, "Do they not enforce any kinda of quality control before allowing an airplane to take flight? Seems like this is happening a lot. Now we all know the whistleblower was right." 

Another user wrote, "Remember that whistle-blower." 

A user even went on saying, "What is going on with these airplanes lately?? Then the whistleblower ends up dead after testifying! HUGE RED FLAG!!!!!" 

Another user said, "Boeing and United need a 3 day safety stand down. This is completely uncalled for." While a user wrote, "Well their quality is really showing now!"

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.