A United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Newark. A video appears to show sparks coming from the plane after takeoff.
United Airlines said the Boeing 777-200 aircraft had experienced a mechanical issue that may have been related to its hydraulic pump.
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- A United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Newark, New Jersey on Thursday.
- The Boeing 777-200, set to fly to Brazil, circled over the Atlantic beforehand to burn off fuel.
- The airline said the plane had experienced a mechanical issue, possibly with a hydraulic pump.
A United Airlines flight with 256 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Newark, New Jersey on Thursday after experiencing a mechanical problem.
"After our aircraft experienced a mechanical issue shortly after takeoff, it remained in the air to burn fuel and then landed safely," United Airlines told Insider, adding that it had assigned passengers to a new aircraft that departed in the afternoon.
Aviation publication AeroXplorer published a video filmed by aviation photographer @variablecraft which it said was of the Boeing 777-200 plane, showing it sparking dramatically as it departed. It also included a picture taken by the photographer which allegedly shows a piece of debris that fell from the aircraft.
CNN reported that the plane declared an emergency. The airline told Insider that an initial maintenance inspection suggested that there had been a problem with a hydraulic pump on the plane.
The plane was set to fly from Newark to São Paulo, Brazil. Flight-tracking site FlightAware shows that the plane set off at 11:01 p.m. local time on Wednesday but was diverted.
Records from FlightAware appear to show that the aircraft flew in circles shortly after reaching the Atlantic Ocean, seemingly to burn fuel, and returned to Newark Liberty International Airport around two hours after it departed.
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
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what happened with the flight, CNN reported.
The FAA and Boeing didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of normal working hours.
Reuters reported earlier this week that United Airlines had removed 25 of its Boeing 777-200 planes from service, leading to some flight cancellations, because the airline hadn't performed required inspections of their wing leading-edge panels. United Airlines told Reuters that it had started the inspections and was working with the FAA to return the planes to service.