United Airlines Makes Emergency Landing due to Cockpit Smoke

A United Airlines flight traveling from Washington Dulles International Airport to San Diego on Tuesday had to make an emergency landing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia due to smoke in the cockpit. The smoke set off the smoke detector, so the pilots diverted the flight as a precaution.

The Boeing B757 was carrying 178 passengers, and none of them were injured, according to Yeager Airport spokesman Brian Belcher. It’s been reported that everyone stayed calm during the incident and were grateful not to have been harmed. Most of them didn’t even smell the smoke until they were exiting the aircraft.

Regional Elite Services took care of the passengers while they left the plane, and they were made to wait for about an hour in a secure zone while their boarding passes were updated. Then they were allowed to leave the zone and have breakfast at the airport’s Tudor’s Biscuit World.

The flight landed at about 9am, and the spokesman says that a replacement was sent around 12:30pm to carry the passengers to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Meanwhile, the carrier sent two mechanics to inspect the aircraft, while the pilots also looked over the plane.

Belcher said that it’s not every day that a plane this big lands at Yeager Airport, but they are more than equipped to handle it. B757s usually land here as part of charted flights and special events, he continued, so the emergency landing wasn’t an issue at all. The spokesman added that the most recent visit was by one carrying Washington dignitaries for the funeral of Senator Robert Byrd.