Flight From Hell

Post reporter experiences tense United flight

For more than three hours late Monday afternoon, before boarding up more than 200 passengers on Chicago-to-Denver flight 909, United Airlines officials had tried to cool down an extremely hot widebody jet at O'Hare International Airport.

The auxiliary power unit, or APU, on the Boeing 777, which generates electricity for planes when engines are shut down at the gate, was broken. Chicago's 100-degree heat and blazing sun had baked the plane's dark blue and gray skin, sending temperatures in the empty cabin soaring to at least 115 degrees.

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Yikes!

As far as the plane breaking, you have no idea how common it is to lose the APU. It's basically a mini-jet engine that is running the entire time the plane is on the ground. It takes a lot of stress and it's common for it to fail.

As for the rest, United had a bad flight that day. It happens to all the airlines. Mistakes will be made, sometimes dangerous ones like this, but over all they do a very good job with their flights.