United Airlines Boeing 777 came within 775 feet of hitting the Pacific Ocean

UNITED BOEING 777-222 N780UA (MSN 26944)

A Boeing 777-200 taking off from Maui’s main airport nearly impacted the ocean on the 18th of December 2022, in a previously "unreported" incident.

United Airlines flight 1722 departed Kahului International airport (OGG/PHOG) for San Francisco (SFO/KSFO) from runway 2 at 2:49pm, climbed to 2,200 feet, and then went into a steep dive at a rate of over 8,000 feet per minute. While the pilots were able to recover, they came within 775 feet of the ocean.

The aircraft quickly recovered, but not before descending below 775 feet. Two people familiar with the incident said the climb produced forces of nearly 2.7 times the force of gravity on the aircraft and its occupants as that steep descent transitioned to an 8,600 foot per minute climb. The entire incident appears to have stretched no more than 45 seconds and in between radio calls with air traffic controllers in Maui. The aircraft then continued onto SFO climbing to 360 and landed safely on runway 28L at 9.03pm.

Maui was experiencing heavy rain at the time of the departure, and the event came a day after a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix experienced severe turbulence injuring several people enroute to Honolulu.

The Air Current reports that air traffic control tapes do not indicate any real-time awareness of the incident on the part of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization.

According to United Airlines, the pilots of the aircraft filed a safety report, however no report was made to the National Transportation Safety Board given the lack of injuries to passengers or damage to the aircraft, and the widebody was inspected prior to its next flight to Chicago a couple of hours later.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: United

Code: UA/UAL

Aircraft: Boeing 777-222

Registration: N212UA

Serial Number: 30218

Engines: 2 x PW PW4077

First Flew: 18th July 2000

Age: 22 Yrs. 7 Mts