United 737 Declares Double Emergency After Landing Gear Fails, Has Just 10 Minutes Of Fuel Left

A recent United Airlines flight from the Cayman Islands to Texas faced a double emergency onboard when the Boeing 737 MAX 9 had issues with its landing gear deploying. This then led to the burning of excess fuel, and the pilots identified that they had just 10 to 12 minutes of fuel left.

Pilots urgently coordinated with air traffic control at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to land the aircraft safely, with controllers working closely with the crew to bring the aircraft to the ground without catastrophe.

United Airlines Flight Has Landing Gear Issues, And Runs Short On Fuel

United flight 1854 is a scheduled twice-weekly service between Grand Cayman (GCM) and Houston. The service departed from Owen Roberts International, the main airport serving the British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, on Sunday, October 25 at 4:28 PM, 17 minutes ahead of its usual departure time of 4:45 PM.

With a usual flight time of around three hours, flight data shows the service operated otherwise uneventfully for the majority of the nonstop flight to Houston, although once the aircraft began its descent into Houston, disaster struck when the crew was unable to successfully deploy the landing gear.

Pilots immediately notified the air traffic controllers at Houston, declaring an emergency due to the landing gear malfunction. Another passing aircraft also confirmed that the right landing gear remained up and had not successfully deployed.

Simple Flying reached out to United for comment, and the airline confirmed a total of 83 passengers were onboard, with a total of six crew. The airline also shared the below statement:

United flight 1854 from Grand Cayman to Houston declared an emergency upon landing due to a mechanical indication. The plane landed safely, taxied normally and passengers deplaned at the gate.

'90 Souls Onboard'

In the recording of air traffic control and pilot communications as shared by theaviationcircle on Instagram, when the captain declared the emergency, he stated that there were '90 souls onboard', and that the 4.9 right main gear would not come down. The air traffic control confirmed that the flight would complete a low pass over Houston Intercontinental to verify the landing gear malfunction.

A passing aircraft was also able to confirm that the right main gear had not deployed; however, as the jet was still in the air, the crew on board the affected jet emphasized it was low on fuel and had just ten to 12 minutes of fuel left.

As the aircraft kept in close communication with control, the request was made for the jet to be met with both fire trucks and other emergency services. While in its final holding pattern, the right main gear finally deployed, permitting the United flight to finally land safely. Data from Simple Flying's Flight Tracker shows that the MAX 9 was able to finally land at 8:24 PM, with no reports of injury onboard. The plane was then met by first responders on the runway to ensure the aircraft was safe to continue its taxi to the terminal.

Aircraft Details: N27474

The jet involved was N27474, a MAX 9 that has only been in operation for almost three months. The plane took its first test flight on August 5, before being delivered to United on August 26. The plane is configured with a standard short-haul two-class configuration with 20 in United Business, and a further 48 in United Economy Plus and 111 in United Economy. Full aircraft details, as per ch-aviation, are detailed in the table below:

Quick actions by the crew when the aircraft landing gear didn't deploy saw the crew follow the strict sequence of troubleshooting and then declaring an emergency. Pilots maintained control of the aircraft at a safe altitude and completed a low fly-by to support air traffic control and nearby aircraft to catch a glimpse of the landing gear in question. Fortunately for all involved, the gear finally deployed and the jet was able to land safely.