A passenger at Newark Liberty International Airport captured a moment that left many viewers uneasy after filming maintenance work being carried out with a coat hanger through a cockpit window shortly before boarding.
The footage, shared in a Reddit thread by user dikles, shows a crew member leaning out of the aircraft’s front window while attempting to adjust a component on the exterior of the plane with a white coat hanger.
The original poster (OP) said the incident occurred on United Airlines flight UA1928 and asked the Reddit community, “What were they trying to do?”
Users flocked to the comments to weigh in, with one writing, “That’s an angle of attack (AOA) sensor, and there is one on each side. They give the aircraft important information about pitch.
“They want to be roughly horizontal and fly like a little wing (and they also want to agree). I’m guessing that the [maintenance] crew thought that them drooping down like that might have been the source of an error they were seeing, and if they just put it more into a normal position, it would resolve. I guess that wasn’t it!”
Another agreed, adding, “Ominous problem to have on a 737MAX.”
In a message to Newsweek, the OP explained that their flight had been delayed 2.5 hours and they eventually departed on a different aircraft.
Angle of Attack Sensors
Angle of Attack, or AOA, sensors are a key part of how aircraft measure their position relative to airflow.
These sensors help determine how close a plane is to stalling and feed data into cockpit displays and automated flight systems.
According to aerospace manufacturer Collins Aerospace, “Angle of attack is defined as the angle formed between the wing chordline and the direction of air flowing past the wing.”
The same document explains that maintaining accurate AOA readings is tied directly to safe flight performance, noting that reliable measurement can “assure a safe operating margin above stall speed.”
In simpler terms, the sensors play a role in helping pilots avoid dangerous flight conditions, particularly during takeoff, landing and steep maneuvers.
Aircraft are typically equipped with multiple AOA sensors to cross-check data, reducing the risk of faulty readings going unnoticed.
‘More reliable’
Industry guidance has increasingly emphasized their importance. According to uAvionix, citing Federal Aviation Administration recommendations, “Research has shown AOA indicators assist pilots with stall margin awareness, stall prevention, and recovery from unusual attitudes or upset.”
The same guidance adds, “The use of an AOA system can provide a more reliable indication of an impending stall than an airspeed indicator alone. In many cases, an approaching stall is not apparent to a pilot without considering AOA.”
While it is not confirmed what specific issue the maintenance crew was addressing in the video, aviation procedures generally require that any suspected fault with flight-critical instruments be resolved before departure.
In this case, the decision to switch planes aligns with standard safety protocols designed to prevent potential risks.
Airlines routinely perform last-minute checks and repairs, and swapping aircraft, while inconvenient, is considered a precautionary measure when technical questions remain unresolved ahead of takeoff.
Newsweek has reached out to dikles for comment via Reddit and United via its website.
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