Stock image of a United Airlines flight.Photo: Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty
A plane headed from San Francisco to Mexico City on Friday made a diversion to Los Angeles due to a hydraulics issue, in what now marks the fourth emergency situation for aUnited Airlinesflight in the span of a week.
United Airlines flight 821 — which left San Francisco International Airport on Friday evening — was ultimately “diverted to” Los Angeles International Airport due to an “issue with the aircraft’s hydraulic system,” a company spokesperson tells PEOPLE in a statement.
The Airbus 320 plane, which was traveling with 105 passengers and 5 crew members at the time of the flight, has three hydraulic systems, which United notes are for “redundancy purposes.”
Only one of the three had an issue during Friday’s flight, the airline reported, citing preliminary information. “The flight landed safely and passengers were deplaned normally at the gate,” United says. “Customers traveled to MEX on a new aircraft.”
The Federal Aviation Administrationrevealedthat it will be investigating the flight, which it reported ultimately landed safely around 4:30 p.m. local time on Friday.
ABC News, citing a spokesperson, said that Los Angeles City Fire Department engines were not needed when they responded to the plane’s landing.
The Los Angeles International Airport, as pictured in November 2013.AP Photo/Gregory Bull
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
The recent flight mishap marks the fourth emergency situation involving a United trip this week.
The incident followspassengers being evacuatedthat same day after a United plane in Houston rolled off a runway, after atire fell off a flightthat departed San Francisco on Thursday, and after a flight from Houston to Fort Myers, Texas,reportedlyhad to turn around after one of the engines had caught fire.
The early Friday evacuation in Houston happened around 8 a.m. local time, when 160 passengers were left on the plane at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), the FAA previously noted and theAssociated Pressshared. United Airlines Flight 2477 had reportedly slid on grass after landing, following its journey from Memphis International Airport.
Mike Allard, a passenger on the flight, told local outletKTRKthat a “huge pop” could be heard after the aircraft tilted. “Seems like we were making a turn. The plane was going a little too fast and just slid off. That’s what I took it as. I’m glad everybody’s OK. I think the Lord was with us and protected us,” he said.
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Just a day before, a tire fall at San Francisco International Airport from United Airlines Flight 35 ended up damaging vehicles in a below parking lot.
The plane, headed to Japan, diverted to Los Angeles shortly after takeoff.NBC Bay Areareported at the time that the wheel ultimately landed on two vehicles and bent a fence in the airport’s employee parking lot before coming to a halt.
“There were no injuries,” the airport’s public information officer Doug Yakel shared with PEOPLE. “The runway was briefly closed to clear debris, but has since reopened. No further impact to airport operations.”
source: people.com
