US Flight Bound For New York Forced To Divert After Pilot Reports Bomb Threat

A plane bound for New York was forced to divert on Saturday due to a bomb scare.

According to flight radar data, the United Airlines flight UAL2092 from Chicago was diverted to Pittsburgh after it sent an alert declaring “‘possible bomb” as the reason for its diversion. The aircraft was carrying 159 passengers and six members of the crew.

According to The Mirror, as the airplane reached its cruise altitude of 37,000 feet, flight tracking data originally showed that the climb was normal. However, the crew made an abrupt, steep right turn while traveling east and changed their transponder to Squawk 7700.

One of the messages read: “ONE SECOND COUNT PER BEEP / POSSIBLE BOMB.”

The Mirror quoted flight audio from LiveATC.net stating that a pilot reported

the presence of a “beeping” item moments after takeoff.

“United flight 2092 from Chicago O’Hare to New York LaGuardia landed in Pittsburgh this morning to address a potential security concern. Passengers evacuated the aircraft via slides,” United Airlines told the Daily Star.

The airlines stated that no injuries were reported.

In January, a United Airlines flight narrowly escaped a crash landing at Orlando International Airport in the United States owing to a “mechanical issue”.

A video of the incident, widely circulated on social media, captured the aircraft’s movements before touchdown, as its nose wheel appeared to roll off the landing gear, with the aeroplane narrowly avoiding a crash landing.

Last year, a United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 en route from Denver to Los Angeles was forced to make an emergency landing when its windshield cracked midair, leaving one pilot injured. The aircraft was cruising at an altitude of 36,000 feet when the damage was detected.