"Wing comes apart in the air" - yes, more hyperbole

[Let'sgoflying!]

United Passenger Films ‘Wing Coming Apart’ on Boeing Plane, Alerts Crew Leading to 'Emergency Landing'

“It came apart when we took off in San Francisco, and were just about on the ground," says the passenger, adding, "Can’t wait for this flight to be over”

www.yahoo.com

 

[Velocity173]

I just hope that phone was in airplane mode. That’s dangerous.

 

[Kritchlow]

Hyperbole or not, that’s not good.

And, seeing as though the slat is subpart of the wing….

 

[geezer]

You have to wonder what hit that to produce such ragged damage, assuming it is aluminum.

 

[SFDukie]

You have to wonder what hit that to produce such ragged damage, assuming it is aluminum.

Juan Browne said that the leading edge of the slat is aluminum, trailing edge is a honeycomb laminate. Elsewhere I read it’s composite, fwiw

 

[Palmpilot]

Hyperbole, in the title of a YouTube video??? Say it ain't so!!!

 

[L J Donelson]

I'm going to take an educated guess that a bird strike hit the gremlin, knocking him into the slat just as Shatner was turning to look back out the window. But I could be wrong, not having all the data readily available at this time.

 

[AV8R_87]

I'm going to take an educated guess that a bird strike hit the gremlin, knocking him into the slat just as Shatner was turning to look back out the window. But I could be wrong, not having all the data readily available at this time.View attachment 125755

That might be a classic, but this was a great spoof:

 

[tobnpr]

Just missed the intake

 

[Pinecone]

trailing edge is a honeycomb laminate. Elsewhere I read it’s composite, fwiw

Honeycomb laminate can be composite.

 

[Larry in TN]

It looks like there's some damage to the wing leading edge that is under the slat when the slat is retracted. I'm wondering if something got trapped in the during retraction, possible some ice. That could have cracked the laminate leading to the failure.

 

[flyingron]

To use the words of Action Jackson: So? He had a spare.

 

[Sluggo63]

I watched (read) this saga unfold real time. The passenger sitting over the wing was posting on Reddit as the slat was delaminating.

https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/1av0ssi

Top comment:

This is a known (albeit rare) failure point on the 757. It’s not a huge issue, but can cause control issues and buffeting due to irregular airflow over the wing.

Non-emergency diversion is the standard procedure for this.

Almost the exact same scenario was written up by NTSB in 2007, where a passenger was first to bring attention to the leading edge slat delaminating.

What I thought was interesting was that the OP continued to post pictures as it got worse.

 

[AquaLand]

What was more concerning than the damage was the Reddit OP asking the question “Do I need to tell a flight crew member?”