SAN FRANCISCO – Two United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft made low-speed contact on the San Francisco International Airport apron on 2 September, the second ground mishap for the carrier at the airport this year.
The Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation. No injuries were reported among more than 300 passengers and crew, although one tail section sustained major damage.
The incident occurred at about 9:30 p.m. in a non-towered ramp area where ground teams depend on visual coordination. United Flight 1871 to Denver was being pushed back from Gate G6 when its tail struck the rear of parked United Flight 796, which was preparing to depart for Boston.
The newer aircraft, registration N17594, took the main impact. Local reports also indicated possible visible damage to the wing of Flight 1871. People boarding Flight 796 felt a sharp jolt that shook the cabin, with several comparing it to a quake.
A Boston traveller, Sarah Jenkins, wrote on Reddit that the crew called for a calm deplaning while the captain explained that another aircraft had clipped them. Witnesses near the gate described sparks and a harsh grinding sound at the moment of contact.
United Airlines States, No Injuries
United Airlines described the event as a minor incident while stressing that safety is the priority. The airline said there were no injuries and that customers left both aircraft in a normal manner. Replacement jets were arranged for onward travel, although both original flights were cancelled and many passengers reached their destinations hours late. Maintenance teams grounded the damaged aircraft for inspection and repair.
The clash echoed another United Airlines scrape at SFO on 6 May 2025, around 12:35 a.m., when two United wide-bodies, one bound for Sydney and the other for Hong Kong, clipped wings while manoeuvring in a similar uncontrolled ramp zone. That occurrence involved more than 500 people and again caused no injuries, but it sharpened attention on tight gate areas and simultaneous pushbacks that test ramp coordination.
SFO is among the busiest airports in the United States, and United is its largest operator with a major West Coast hub. Specialists often cite human factors, such as unclear hand signals, radio gaps between tug operators and flight decks, and workload at peak times, as common threads in these events. Dr Elena Vasquez, a former FAA safety inspector, said the narrow margins in ground operations can bite when traffic peaks and multiple moves happen at once.
Complex Safety Record
The carrier’s current troubles at SFO sit within a longer, more complex safety record. United Airlines runs more than 3,300 flights a day to over 300 destinations. Over the decades, it has faced mechanical failures and crew errors, and has made repeated public pledges to raise safety performance.
One chapter still looms large. On 19 July 1989, United Airlines Flight 232, a DC-10 flying from Denver to Chicago, suffered an engine failure over Iowa that severed hydraulics and left the aircraft barely controllable.
Captain Al Haynes and his crew guided the jet to Sioux City, where an extraordinary landing saved 184 of the 296 people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board traced the cause to an undetected fatigue crack in the engine fan disk, along with shortcomings in inspection practices at the time.
In 2024, the airline weathered a flurry of 10 incidents in two weeks. These included an engine fire linked to plastic wrap on a 737, a wheel detachment shortly after take-off that damaged vehicles on the ground, and a runway excursion.
Chief executive Scott Kirby wrote to customers acknowledging the run of events, saying they were unrelated, and promised more focus on safety, even as Boeing’s manufacturing issues drew scrutiny. Six additional events followed that year, from rudder pedal snags to engine stalls, prompting closer FAA attention.
Early 2025 brought more headlines, including laser strikes on cockpits near Boston and a disruptive passenger who forced a diversion to Nashville. Kirby later told staff that heavy investment in training and technology would continue, but that ramp collisions show there is more work to do on ground management at crowded hubs.
As the FAA reviews the SFO contract, with findings expected before year’s end, United faces louder calls to tighten ramp procedures. Passenger groups, already on edge after the Alaska Airlines door plug failure earlier this year, want stronger training and tools like automated proximity alerts for pushbacks. For those on board at SFO, the shake was brief but unsettling.
United has not given a return-to-service date for the grounded aircraft. The airline says its network remains stable, with rebookings absorbing the disruption. Aviation safety depends on layers of protection, and this latest scrape is a reminder that risks do not end once an aircraft leaves the runway.
