A United Airlines 777-200 (registered N772UA) experienced an uncontained engine failure in the #2 (right) engine. The airframe was operating flight UA328 from Denver (DEN) to Honolulu (HNL) when four minutes after takeoff, a loud bang was heard as engine pieces began falling to the ground above Broomfield, CO. Various parts ended up scattered throughout the suburb, and the entire engine inlet lip was found in one piece in a resident's front yard. No one on the ground was injured.
Planespotter Hayden Smith (@speedbird5280) was able to capture a series of pictures from the ground subsequent to the incident. Thankfully, all 241 passengers and crew aboard were able to land safely only 23 minutes after taking off and 19 minutes after the failure event, entirely in one piece. However, the same cannot be said for the aircraft, seen with smoke and flames trailing from the scarred skeleton of the #2 engine.
The airframe involved in the incident, N772UA, happens to be the fifth Boeing 777 ever built and is 26 years old. The aircraft's age likely did not contribute to the incident due to stringent maintenance protocols required. Video footage of the incident taken from inside the cabin can be found here. The remains of the engine very obviously are aflame and vibrating, and the core of the engine is visible since the cowling and other external parts of the engine structure have been torn away by the force of the incident.
Thankfully, no one has been hurt due to this incident, and United is instead sending a replacement 777, airframe N773UA, to Honolulu, with the 231 passengers onboard (operating flight UA3025). The replacement flight is set to depart exactly now, at 6:14pm (Mountain Time,) and will arrive in Honolulu at 10:40pm - only around five hours delayed, despite the serious nature of the incident.
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