United Airlines flight 1463 from Chicago to Santa Ana, California, made an emergency landing in Wichita, Kansas, after an evacuation slide accidentally inflated mid-flight on Sunday night.
After landing, passenger Sara Schroeder tweeted: “Gentlemen in shiny metallic suits checking out the @united plane.”
Nobody was injured, the airline said.
United Airlines flight 1463 from Chicago to Santa Ana, made an emergency landing in Wichita after an evacuation slide accidentally inflated mid-flight (photo abc7)
Flight 1463 made a rapid descent, according to Flight Aware website, and landed in Wichita at 10:36 p.m. local time (11:36 p.m. ET).
The Boeing 737-700 with 96 aboard took off from Chicago at 8:18 p.m. (9:18 p.m. ET), according to United Airlines spokeswoman Christen David.
Christen David added that the airline was flying in another aircraft to resume the flight “and get our customers to their final destination as quickly as possible.”
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A Boeing 747 Dreamlifter cargo plane was heading for McConnell air force base in Wichita but instead touched down by mistake at nearby Colonel James Jabara airport in Kansas.
Airport officials believe the plane will be able to depart despite the much shorter runway at Colonel James Jabara airport.
An attempt is scheduled for lunchtime on Thursday.
The plane was heading for McConnell air force base in Wichita but instead touched down by mistake at nearby Colonel James Jabara airport in Kansas
The aircraft normally needs a runway of 9,119 ft to get airborne at maximum weight; Jabara’s runway is only 6,102 ft long.
Brad Christopher of the Wichita Airport Authority told the Associated Press news agency the company that operates the aircraft had “assured us they’ve run all the engineering calculation and performance and the aircraft is very safe for a normal departure at its current weight and conditions here”.
The Dreamlifter, which landed at Jabara on Wednesday evening, is a modified 747-400 passenger aeroplane, which can carry more cargo by volume than any aeroplane in the world, according to Boeing.
The aerospace company uses its fleet of four Dreamlifters to transport large assembled components of its 787 Dreamliner from suppliers around the world to the final assembly location in Washington state.
The City of Wichita tweeted that no-one was injured and no property damage occurred when the plane landed.
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