PASSENGERS DESCRIBED THEIR terror after a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Hawaii had to make an emergency landing after its engine cover began to fall apart.

People onboard the flight shared pictures and videos of the engine on Twitter, describing a loud bang around a half an hour before the flight was scheduled to land in Honolulu.

One described it as the “scariest flight of my life” while adding that the pilots and crew did “a great job” and “handled it well”.

In a statement, United Airlines said: “United flight 1175 traveling to Honolulu from San Francisco landed safely after the pilots called for an emergency landing because of an issue with the #2 engine.

Our pilots followed all necessary protocols to safely land the aircraft. The aircraft taxied to the gate and passengers deplaned normally. United is fully cooperating with the NTSB and FAA investigation of the event.

The airline said it was fully cooperating with investigators and authorities in relation to the incident.

One passenger who appeared to keep calm was Google engineer Erik Haddad who tweeted “I don’t see anything about this in the manual” and “that looks bad, plane and simple” prior to landing.

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