- United Airlines flight had to land at Newark, New Jersey on Thursday due to an emergency.
- To burn fuel, the Boeing 777-200 was circling over the Atlantic before it took off to Brazil.
- The airline stated that the plane suffered from a mechanical issue and was possibly experiencing hydraulic pump problems.
After experiencing a mechanical issue, a United Airlines flight carrying 256 passengers had to land in Newark on Thursday.
“Our aircraft suffered a mechanical issue shortly following takeoff. The aircraft remained in flight to burn fuel, and then landed safely,” United Airlines stated to Insider.
AeroXplorer is an aviation publication Published a videoFilmed by an aviation photographer @variablecraftThe picture was of the Boeing 777 200 plane. It showed it sparking rapidly as it departed. The photographer also took a photo that allegedly shows debris from the aircraft.
CNN reported that the plane had declared an emergency. Insider learned from the airline that an initial maintenance inspection indicated that the plane had a problem at its hydraulic pump.
The plane was set to fly from Newark to São Paulo, Brazil. Flight tracking site FlightAwareThe flight record shows that the plane left at 11:01 p.m. on Wednesday, but was diverted.
RecordingsFlightAware records show that the aircraft flew in circles soon after reaching Atlantic Ocean, apparently to burn fuel. It returned to Newark Liberty International Airport about two hours after its departure.
United Airline’s website says that the plane ultimately left Newark early Thursday afternoon and arrived in São Paulo at 2:14 a.m. on Friday — nearly 17 hours after its expected arrival time.
United Airlines website
CNN reported that the Federal Aviation Administration is currently investigating what happened to the flight.
Insider’s request for comments, sent outside of normal work hours, was not immediately answered by the FAA or Boeing.
ReutersThis week, it was reported that United Airlines had taken 25 of its Boeing 777-220 planes out of service. There were some cancellations as the airline didn’t perform required inspections on their wing leading edge panels. United Airlines informed Reuters it had begun inspections and was working closely with the FAA to return these planes to service.
