United Airlines released a statement Monday after Flight 108, bound for Munich, Germany, had to turn back. The Boeing 787 with 219 passengers and 11 crew members had to retreat to Dulles International Airport after the left engine failed.
After reaching around 5,000 feet, the pilot said, “Engine failure, left engine, United 108 declaring an emergency. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” That’s according to audio published from the Youtube channel, You can see ATC. The video, with recordings from the pilot and air traffic controller, has approximately 90,000 views.
The flight was in the air for two hours and 38 minutes. The vehicle had to dump fuel to adjust weight for proper flight landing.
“The plane landed safely, and all passengers deplaned normally at the gate,” said a United Airlines spokesperson. “The flight was subsequently canceled and we arranged alternate travel arrangements to take customers to their destination as soon as possible.”
United Airlines said the plane experienced a “mechanical issue” and sent the plane to be checked by the airport authority’s fire and rescue personnel, before it was towed to a gate at the Dulles International Airport.
While the National Transportation Safety Board said it is not investigating the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told The Hill they intend to look into the incident.
This isn’t the first incident of the type, with the FAA reporting 134 commercial airplane incidents this year, seven of them classified as near-misses.
“We are actually looking at it and figuring out how we navigate our airspace and make it safer because, again, near misses one day can lead to a devastating crash the next,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to NewsNation.
United Airlines Flight Declares ‘Mayday’ After Engine Failure first appeared on Men’s Journal on Aug 5, 2025