A United flight has been forced to land following a reported bomb threat from a passenger. As reported by The Mirror, the plane squawked a 7500 emergency code, indicating "unlawful interference."
United Flight UA2174 was flying from Newark International to New Orleans when it transmitted the code. Luckily, the flight managed to touch down without incident, although transmissions from the plane show that there had been issues prior to landing.
A social media post by Aaron Heins noted ACARS messages which might give some insight as to what happened. However, there has not been official word from authorities or the NTSB about this incident.
Per Heins, the Boeing 737 MAX 9 ended up being parked in a remote spot at Louis Armstrong International Airport following the incident. Per Heins, who listened to ATC audio, a man dressed in black with a backpack "who spoke almost no English" reportedly made a bomb threat. At the time of landing, he was reportedly held at the back of the flight alongside flight attendants.
ACARS messages relayed to other planes indicate there was an attempted Level 4 - which "is an attempt or actual breach of the flight deck (cockpit)". "WE HAD AN ATTEMPTED LEVEL 4 NO OTHER DETAILS ARE KNOWN AT THIS TIME," the crew wrote in a message.
Luckily, it appears that no-one was harmed, and all 46 passengers and 6 crew were safe. A statement from United confirmed that the plane "landed safely following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard." They added "Law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival."
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This Comes After Another Emergency on a Flight
This comes after another emergency on a flight forced an emergency landing. However, luckily, this wasn't related to any reported hijackings - it was seemingly a mechanical fault.
This incident affected Southwest Flight 3396 which was flying from Santa Ana to San Jose. We reported on the incident when it happened - a "general emergency" squawked at 20,000 feet caused them to divert to Los Angeles International for the landing.
"The Pilots followed established procedures and landed the aircraft uneventfully," the airline wrote in a statement.
