Federal regulators set to closely monitor United Airlines

United Airlines has announced that federal regulators will closely monitor the airline due to recent incidents including an engine fire, tire loss during takeoff, and a falling fuselage.

United Airlines stated on Friday that federal regulators will be closely monitoring the airline going forward due to a number of recent incidents, such as an engine fire, a plane losing a tire during takeoff, and a piece of the outer fuselage falling off one aircraft. Sasha Johnson, vice president of corporate safety at United, stated that the FAA will review "multiple areas of our operation" to verify safety compliance. The government stated that it regularly keeps an eye on every facet of an airline's operations, but it did not elaborate on any further actions it is taking in United's instance.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said earlier this week that he discussed the occurrences with United CEO Scott Kirby. Kirby stated that the airline would take into consideration other improvements in addition to the extra day of training that pilots would receive beginning in May and the modifications it would be making to the curriculum for recently hired mechanics.

One of the most recent incidents involved a United Boeing 737 that had landed in Oregon and a piece of outer aluminum skin that had fallen off the aircraft's belly. A United aircraft experienced an engine fire while taking off from Houston earlier this month, and another United aircraft had a tire fall off as it was leaving San Francisco.