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.