China Eastern Boeing 777 Loses Part Of Wing In Flight - metal fell off wing.jpg

https://simpleflying.com/china-eastern-777-wing/

According to the latest news out of the US, a China Eastern Boeing 777 had to
return to JFK after take off. According to passenger reports, a portion of the
aircraft’s wing came off during the initial departure from JFK. A photo shared
on social media supports this.

Aircraft are built to withstand some huge forces. Imagine passengers’ surprise
then, when they looked out of the left window. A section of wing maybe half a
meter by half a meter had come off at the base of one of the speed brakes. As a
precaution, the pilot decided to return to his origin so the problem could be
resolved without developing further.

Flight MU588

China Eastern flight MU588 is the carrier’s flight connection New York and
Shanghai. The flight is scheduled daily and continues on to Fuzhou on the same
flight number from Shanghai.

Usually operated by a Boeing 777 aircraft, the flight is scheduled to take 15
hours. This means a departure from New York at 16:25 local time. The aircraft
then touches down in Shanghai at 19:25 the next day after a 7,400-mile flight as
the crow flies.

According to data from Flight Radar 24, the aircraft took off at around 19:00
local time, already around two and a half hours late. The aircraft departed New
York to the North, climbing to 23,000ft. However, the aircraft soon started
flying circles above where the states, New York, Massachusets, and New Hampshire
meet. It is unknown whether the aircraft was dumping fuel at this time.

A 2.5-hour flight

After just around two and a half hours, the Boeing 777 was touching back down in
New York. AirFleets.net reports that the aircraft is 4.7 years old having been
delivered to the airline in 2014. The aircraft is fitted with 6 first-class
seats, 52 business seats, and 258 economy seats. It is currently unclear how
many people were on board the aircraft.

Why return to New York?

The aircraft needed to return to New York for a technical problem, however,
photos on social media appear to show that a portion of the wing was missing.
Specifically, an L-shaped chunk right around where the left speed brake is
attached to the wing.

Thankfully, it seemed as though the incident wasn’t too drastic as the aircraft
was able to land without further incident, however, the damage did look rather
alarming. The aircraft has remained on the ground since the incident.

It looks like it could be a fairly lengthy fix, however, according to Flight
Radar 24, the aircraft is currently scheduled to fly from Shanghai to Toronto on
Thursday. It does, however, need to get back to Shanghai first. Simple Flying
attempted to contact an airline representative.




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