A cracked windshield caused a United Airlines flight to unexpectedly land
A United Airlines flight heading from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., on Sunday was diverted due to a cracked windshield, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
After departing at 9:22 a.m. PST, the Boeing 737-800 jet landed in Denver after being in the air for almost three hours, according to FlightAware.
In a statement to Paste BN, the carrier said the incident was “due to a maintenance issue.”
“After safely landing, customers deplaned normally and a plane change occurred,” the airline said. The 166 passengers and seven crew members boarded onto a Boeing 737-900 for the resumed journey to Dulles.
The flight departed Denver around 3 p.m. MST and landed in Dulles about four hours after its scheduled arrival time.
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The incident occurred just days after the airline said its Boeing 737 Max 9s would return to the skies after a door plug broke loose during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5 and left a gaping hole in the plane.
On Saturday, an American Airlines Airbus A320 “made a hard landing” on the runway at Maui’s Kahului Airport, injuring five passengers and one crew member.
Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for Paste BN based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.