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Jet flew to Medford despite damage By JOHN DARLING MEDFORD - A United Airlines 737 passenger jet is repaired and flying again after making a Sunday-morning flight from San Francisco to Medford with a wing damaged in a fender-bender with a service vehicle. The plane landed routinely in Medford and there were no injuries, said United spokesperson Whitney Staley in Chicago. The flight was No. 2488, arriving at 7:07 a.m. Crews here did repairs on the craft and certified it airworthy on Thursday, Staley said. The wing was damaged in San Francisco when the plane hit a service vehicle while being pushed backward from the gate before it took off for Medford, according to an incident report filed by Medford-Jackson County airport workers and released by Assistant County Counsel Debbie Minder. Details of the damage were unavailable. United's flight personnel on another plane spotted the damage on the ground in Medford and told airport workers who were training on their aircraft, according to the report. The captain for the return flight to San Francisco also spotted the damage during his "walk around" before taking off. United staff in Medford looked for evidence the damage had happened here and, finding none, they contacted United in San Francisco, whose crews then found debris at the gate where the plane had departed. "The crew stated they had felt a 'thud' when they were being pushed back. They had asked the ground what the 'thud' was and the ground crew stated it was just the push bar," according to the report. Staley, United's spokeswoman, did not provide details of the incident, instead describing it as a "routine experience" that is under investigation. "There was no cause for alarm," said Staley. "The flight ran normally. It's not unusual, just a routine experience." United is continuing its investigation into the incident and will release full findings to the Federal Aviation Administration and the public later, she said. San Francisco-bound passengers from Medford were rerouted on other carriers, she said. John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.