United Boeing 787-9 diverts due to vibrations in the tail section

A United Boeing 787-9, registration N13954 performing flight UA-900 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to San Francisco,CA (USA) with 252 people on board, was enroute at FL360 about 400nm northwest of Iqaluit,NU (Canada) when the crew contacted Dispatch and Maintenance reporting airframe vibrations in the aft/tail section of the aircraft, without experiencing any abnormal indications or aircraft handling issues. A flight crew member went to the rear galley to investigate, found intermittent vibrations but could not identify the cause. In consultation with dispatch the crew declared emergency and decided to divert to Iqaluit. The aircraft descended to FL350 and landed safely in Iqaluit about 75 minutes after the decision to divert.

A replacement Boeing 787-9 registration N27965 reached San Francisco with a delay of about 12 hours.

The Canadian TSB reported on Nov 16th 2022: “A visual inspection by a local airport maintenance company confirmed there were no identifiable defects to the aircraft or tail section. United Airlines field service maintenance personnel were dispatched to CYFB for an aircraft inspection and further troubleshooting. No defects were found. The operator’s maintenance is currently coordinating repositioning the aircraft to a United Airlines maintenance base.”

The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Iqaluit for about 48 hours, then positioned to Denver,CO (USA) and returned to service about 20 hours after landing in Denver. avherald.com