The chilling moments of a United Airlines flight veering off a runway were captured in newly released video and cockpit voice recordings, detailing the ordeal faced by 160 passengers aboard flight 2477. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released the documents relating to the incident on March 8, 2024, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, as reported by the NY Post. The surveillance video depicts the Boeing 737 8 MAX struggling to slow on the wet tarmac before sliding onto the grass.
Following the release of a recent NTSB report, without analysis or determination of probable cause, it was mentioned in KHOU 11 coverage that the pilots had not set autobrakes to a necessary level and failed to perform a full reverse during landing operations. This comes after the aircraft landed on a runway that weather conditions, with mist and prior rainfall, plagued, which led to its inadequate deceleration.
The accident, which left the craft tilted with its left wing touching the grass, prompted an evacuation of the passengers who were left stranded on the field, awaiting transportation to the terminal, a situation evident in passenger-shared videos from the scene. While the released documents have not yet pinpointed the exact cause, the performance study by NTSB indicated the aircraft did not decelerate as needed before attempting to exit the runway.
Recordings from the cockpit voice recorder reveal a tense exchange between Captain Alireza Johartchi and First Officer Michael Dickson. "Oh my god, I can't believe that happened. God darn it. I am so sorry," Johartchi said, as per the NY Post documentation. In what becomes an unsettling testament to our time, the captain's concern about the power of the omnipresent digital eye was captured: "Frickin' people man taking videos... Ah, we're gonna be all over social media," he said. The incident remains under active investigation by the NTSB.
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