Two recent incidents saw two different aircraft operated by United Airlines returning to their point of departure, citing engine issues. One was an Airbus A319 on its way to Cleveland from Washington DC, returning to Washington after the crew detected unusual indications and noise, while the other flight was a Boeing 737-800 on its way to Boise, returning to Denver after the crew detected high vibration profiles on one of the aircraft’s engines.

In both instances, the aircraft landed safely, and the passengers were sent to their destinations in an alternative aircraft, albeit with a slight operational delay. Simple Flying has reached out to United Airlines to know further details of these incidents.

Incident One: UA-2241 from IAD to CLE

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This first incident, as reported by Aviation Herald, took place on February 3, when an Airbus A319 service operated by United Airlines on its way to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), when the flight crew got unusual engine indications on their instruments and reportedly heard noises.

This resulted in the flight crew halting the aircraft’s initial climb to cruise altitude at a much lower altitude of 3,000 feet, before declaring an emergency and returning to IAD. The aircraft safely landed approximately 11 minutes after its original departure time. Data from FlightRadar24 shows that the aircraft in question was a 20-year-old airframe, which was grounded for a few days, but has been back in commercial service since February 9.

United deployed a replacement aircraft, this time a larger Airbus A320, which departed from IAD six hours after the originally scheduled departure and landed in CLE after a flight time of 57 minutes.

Incident Two: UA-1125 from DEN to BOI

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This second incident occurred over the weekend, when United Airlines flight UA-1125 was en route from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Boise Airport (BOI). During the cruise phase, according to Aviation Herald, at altitudes of Flight Level / FL 380, the crew reported high levels of vibration on the aircraft’s engine one (left engine). The aircraft involved was a 25-year-old Boeing 737-800, which safely landed back in DEN about two hours after departure.

Flight data for the aircraft shows that the engine issue appears to be rectified, as the aircraft returned to service the very next day. The affected passengers, on the other hand, were flown to Boise on board a replacement aircraft, which in this case was a Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. The replacement service departed from DEN just over two and a half hours after the originally scheduled departure and arrived safely at BOI after a flight time of an hour and 38 minutes.

While there were a number of different airports along the way between DEN and BOI, it was probably sensible for the flight crew to return to Denver despite having flown half the flight, considering the airport serves as a major hub for United Airlines, and therefore, the airline would have had access to its own maintenance facilities and better access to technical support at its base rather an alternate (or destination) airport with limited or no support. Additionally, it would have also enabled United to easily accommodate the affected passengers in an alternate aircraft, which would have been available at its base in DEN.

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Are Engine Issues A Significant Disruptor?

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The answer to this question at face value is yes, because engines are what power an aircraft and allow it to fly. But on a technical level, when looking at an isolated event of an engine developing an issue in-flight, yes, relevant and timely action must be taken, but most aircraft these days are technologically advanced and have redundancies that would prevent most engine issues from significantly affecting flight safety or even resulting in operational disruption.

With the advent of technology and features such as ETOPS, aircraft these days can fly for prolonged periods even if they suffer engine issues or even experience a complete engine failure on one of their engines. As demonstrated by the above-mentioned engine trouble faced by UA-1125, the crew did have alternate airports available to them on their current flight path, or could have even possibly continued the flight to Boise, but the flight crew probably chose to return to Denver more for operational reasons than safety.

So, engines and any issues that develop during a flight are important and should be assessed and handled in the correct manner, but because of the high levels of crew training, established procedures, and technology available, the crew members have more time to react and take relevant decisions and actions without compromising the high standards of aviation safety.