After weeks and weeks of daily mechanical incidents that prompted many to ask - no pun intended - if the wings have fallen off from the US aviation and airline industries, on Saturday Bloomberg reported that US aviation authorities are considering drastic measures to curb growth at United Airlines, including preventing the carrier from adding new routes, following a series of safety incidents.

Citing "people with knowledge", Bloomberg said that the Federal Aviation Administration (or FAA) has discussed temporary actions it may take with the airline's leadership in recent days. This follows a report from Reuters ("Boeing chair to meet key airline customers without planemaker's CEO, sources say") last week hinting that the CEO of Boeing, David Calhoun, may be in jeopardy after the relentless barage of Boeing-linked "mishaps" especially after recent comments by Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary who slammed Boeing's corporate culture. Anyway, going back to United, in addition to route restrictions, the US carrier may be barred from flying paying customers on newly delivered aircraft; indeed the sources said that the FAA already is suspending United's ability to approve and promote pilots to fly different aircraft models. One wonders if it's because of, well, this...

The proposed clampdown would effectively pause growth for an unspecified period at one of the largest US airlines, underscoring the panicked rush to restore confidence in, and heightened scrutiny on commercial aviation safety following a near-catastrophe earlier this year involving a Boeing plane. Since the January incident, in which a panel blew out in midair from an Alaska Airlines jet, United has endured multiple headline-grabbing mishaps including:

A plane in Houston ran off the taxiway into a grassy area

Another aircraft lost a tire shortly after departing from San Francisco

A Houston-to-Florida flight had to make an emergency landing after one of its engines began spewing flames.