United Airlines plane diverted to L.A. in air carrier’s 4th emergency in a week
By Rebekah Riess and Gregory Wallace, CNN
(CNN) — A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Mexico City was diverted to Los Angeles Friday after an issue with the plane’s hydraulic system, the airline said. It was the carrier’s fourth emergency in a week, including a tire falling off one flight and an engine catching fire on another.
The Airbus 320, carrying 105 passengers and five crew members, landed safely and everyone disembarked at a gate, according to United and the Federal Aviation Administration. Customers were flown to Mexico City International Airport on a different aircraft, according to the airline.
The Airbus 320 is equipped with three hydraulic systems for “redundancy purposes” and preliminary information showed the issue affected only one of those systems, according to United.
The FAA said it will investigate the incident.
Friday’s diverted flight was United’s fourth emergency in a week, including an engine that ingested bubblewrap and caught fire midair on Monday, another flight losing a tire after takeoff on Thursday, and another aircraft skidding off a runway into a grassy area on Friday.
United Airlines said in a statement that “each of these events is distinct and unrelated to one another.”
“We take every safety event seriously and will investigate each of the incidents that occurred this week to understand what happened and learn from them,” United said. “Much of this work is conducted together with the manufacturers, the FAA, and the NTSB as well as with the manufacturers of individual components … Safety is our top priority, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to keep our customers and employees safe.”
CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
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