A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Rome, Italy was diverted to Sacramento on Tuesday evening due to mechanical issues, the airline said. Jocelyn Moran reports.
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Rome, Italy was diverted to Sacramento on Tuesday evening due to mechanical issues, the airline said.
United flight 507 took off from SFO at around 4:30 p.m. and was bound for Rome.
A United spokesperson told NBC Bay Area that the flight was diverted because of mechanical issues and they are working to rebook customers for Rome.
The Boeing 777 jet was carrying 148 passengers and 14 crew members.
One video showed buses arriving on the tarmac, taking passengers away from the area. While another video captured crew members looking at one of the engines in Sacramento.
“If they’ve narrowed it down to an engine, whether it be mechanical, hydraulic, they’re going to go right to that source to see what they can find,” said aviation consultant Mike McCarron.
Cecilia Sousa, a United passenger, said they were told on the flight that one of the engines was overheating and they had to be diverted to Sacramento. They spent a few hours there before getting on a plane back to SFO.
"I was like, i was wondering if we're going to get, you know, get back on a plane today or tomorrow. So at least we have a plane coming. I mean, we have a plane already now,” she said.
McCarron told NBC Bay Area Tuesday that mechanical issues aren’t uncommon.
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“It happens every day, at every airport. There's gonna be some type of mechanical problem, these are complex aircraft and things break on them occasionally,” he said.
United has had its fair share of mechanical issues recently.
A panel fell off a plane over Oregon in March. A wing was damaged over Denver in February. And in March, a tire fell off the flight on takeoff from SFO on its way to Japan.
In all of the cases, the planes landed safely, and nobody was hurt.
The passengers from the recent incident returned to SFO on Tuesday night.
