A United Airlines flight from Sarasota, Fla., made an emergency landing Wednesday at the next closest airport after its door open indicator light came on, less than a week after the shocking in-flight Alaska Airlines door plug explosion.
United Flight 2434 was headed to Chicago when its lights came on, and the pilot alerted dispatchers, who rerouted the plane to Tampa, an airport spokeswoman said.
The plane departed Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport at 3:42 p.m., diverted to Tampa International Airport and landed safely at 4:35 p.m., according to a flight tracking website. Flight Aware.
The plane, carrying 123 passengers and five crew members, made an emergency landing “this afternoon as a precaution to address a potential mechanical issue,” a United spokesperson told the Post.
The airline did not immediately say whether the issue in question was related to the open door lights, but a Tampa International Airport spokesperson said that when runway space was requested for an emergency landing. , a Tampa International Airport spokesperson said, having received a call about just that.
United Airlines is one of two U.S. companies operating Boeing 737 Max 9 airliners, like the one whose door plug was lost mid-air on Friday.
However, the plane that was diverted to Tampa on Wednesday was an Airbus A319.
The FAA grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft “until pilots complete enhanced inspections of both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners.”
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have discovered loose hardware in some of their Max 9 planes.
Last Friday, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 from Portland, Oregon, was forced to make a dramatic emergency landing after a door plug flew off at 16,000 feet, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane.
The rapid decompression sucked the teenager's shirt off his back and other passengers' belongings, including seat headrests and mobile phones, some of which fell into residents' backyards.
Miraculously, none of the 171 passengers and six crew members were seriously injured.
