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Comment by egberts1 | Hacker News Reader

I am surprised that the plane did not return back to its departure due to having exceeded manufacturing spec for maximum 2.3 G force to inspect for cracks in wings and fuselage.

Hopefully, that plane will be taken out of service in SFO.

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  Hopefully, that plane will be taken out of service in SFO.

Ron Howard as the narrator: it wasn't.

Edit:

The article I read said it was not. Actually, I don't see anything on the Guardian's article indicating any inspection was performed.

https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/united-maui-dive-u...

  The Boeing widebody … was quickly turned around at SFO and departed to
  Chicago on its next flight about two and a half hours later.

The article said it was inspected on landing at SFO.

so United wanted the full(er) inspection to be done at United O'Hare Maintenance Facility, got it.

  so United wanted the full(er) inspection to be done at United O'Hare
  Maintenance Facility, got it.

No. United has a massive maintenance base at SFO and this sort of inspection is important enough that you wouldn't put a plane back in revenue service without conducting a check.

COO Toby Enqkvist is stationed in Chicago.

And only the most rigorous inspections are done in O'Hare facility where all the best equipments are and under watchful eyes of executives.

This is expected given how many times FAA has hit United Airline in last 12 months for not doing safety inspection.

So I am guessing it went to ORD.

  COO Toby Enqkvist is stationed in Chicago.

What? The COO is not going to be doing or overseeing the inspection.

  And only the most rigorous inspections are done in O'Hare facility
  where all the best equipments are and under watchful eyes of executives.

What? United Tech Ops is based out of SFO with a 2.9 million square foot facility. Yeah, there are like thirty other Tech Ops facilities, but the SFO facility is the largest and is obviously well prepared to carry out whatever inspection especially as the plane was already there.

  So I am guessing it went to ORD.

Yes, it flew to Chicago in revenue service. There is zero chance that United deferred an inspection until after a subsequent revenue flight. Not even Southwest is that bad (and they're the record holder for maintenance related fines from the FAA). From what I've read 2.5 hours is about enough time to do an inspection if no damage is found initially.

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