On Jul 25th 2025, a United Airlines Boeing 787-8, registration N27901, declared an emergency shortly after departure from Washington Dulles when its left engine suffered an exceedance and failure during climb.
Flight UA-108 had departed runway 30 at Washington Dulles bound for Munich and was cleared to climb to 10,000 feet. However, the crew stopped the climb at 5,000 feet. When air traffic control queried the level-off, the pilots declared an emergency, reporting a failure of the left-hand General Electric GEnx engine.
The crew initially positioned for an approach to runway 19C but then requested to climb to 6,000 feet to conduct a fuel dump lasting approximately six minutes. After reducing weight, the aircraft returned for another approach and landed safely on runway 19C about 55 minutes after departure. No injuries were reported. The aircraft returned to service on Jul 28th 2025.
Subsequent maintenance documentation described a left engine exceedance followed by failure during climb, with the engine becoming uncontrollable and spooling up at approximately 5,000 feet. Recorded data indicated an N2 overspeed event reaching 117.5 percent for 37.9 seconds.
Maintenance crews carried out detailed inspections in accordance with Boeing 787 Aircraft Maintenance Manual procedures. These included overspeed inspections and extensive borescope examinations of high-pressure turbine (HPT) stage 1 blades, low-pressure turbine stages 1 and 2, and high-pressure compressor stages 1, 4, and 9. No limiting defects were identified during the inspections. Technicians removed and replaced the left engine’s electronic engine control (EEC) unit and performed follow-up operational and power assurance tests, with all readings reported within prescribed limits.
The event underscores the redundancy and monitoring built into modern widebody engines. Even in the case of a significant overspeed and loss of control indication, established emergency procedures and post-flight inspection protocols enabled a controlled return and safe restoration of the aircraft to service within three days.
