Passengers Injured After United Airlines 757-200 Maneuvers To Avoid Collision With Another Aircraft

Two passengers were injured after a United 757-200 aircraft was forced to abruptly slow its descent to “avoid another aircraft in the vicinity.” 

United Airlines 757-200 Quickly Slows Descent To Avoid Aircraft Below, Injuring Two Onboard

On Thursday, September 19, 2024, United flight 2428 from Newark (EWR) to San Francisco (SFO) was on approach into San Francisco International Airport.

Suddenly, around 12:45 pm, pilots received an alert “while traveling through Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center Airspace,” per the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Although the seat belt sign was on, United said two passengers was taken to a local hospital for examination after the aircraft safely landed, including one who not wearing a seatbelt. Per United:

“Two customers, including one who was out of their seat at the time, reported possible injuries and were transported to a hospital.”

“We’re grateful to our crew for their efforts to ensure the safety of our employees and customers.”

(lesson: always wear a seatbelt when seated, but especially when the seatbelt light is on)

A Textbook Case Handled Well

This is still a “real” story because two passengers were injured at least sufficiently to warrant a hospital check, but the FAA confirmed, “there was no loss of safe separation” (meaning that a safe minimum distance between aircraft was constantly maintained). Since this story has been widely covered in mainstream media in a typical alarmist fashion, it merits mentioning that the alert followed by the maneuvering was a preemptive action to avoid danger rather than a response to danger.

CONCLUSION

A United 757 was forced to abruptly slow down its descent when another aircraft was picked up in the vicinity. As a result, two passengers were injured. 

While the FAA is now investigating it has also already confirmed that the two aircraft were never close to colliding, so this was not a near-miss episode.