United flight from SFO to London turns back mid-flight due to technical issue
Flight UA948, operated by a Boeing 777-200ER, departed San Francisco International Airport at 4:41 p.m. local time on July 15, en route to London Heathrow.
According to data from aviation tracker FlightAware, the aircraft made a wide U-turn near the U.S.-Canada border northwest of Winnipeg, roughly halfway through its planned transatlantic route, and began the return trip to California.
In a message to passengers sent via its mobile app, cited by the aviation site Aviation A2Z, United Airlines cited a technical issue as the reason for the diversion. The airline emphasized that the decision was made out of precaution and that there was no immediate threat to safety.
United Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The 15-year-old aircraft, which had been scheduled to land in London at 10:25 a.m. local time on July 16, instead touched down in San Francisco just after midnight — more than eight hours after its original departure.
United canceled a rescheduled flight that was scheduled to depart at 1:18 a.m. Wednesday, with a revised arrival time in London later that evening.
'Your flight is canceled because we needed to take the plane out of service to address a technical issue,' its website said. 'Your safety is our priority and we're sorry for the inconvenience.'
The incident echoes a similar episode earlier this month. On July 7, United flight UA82 from Newark to Delhi was forced to turn back due to a failure in the aircraft's electronics cooling system.
That flight, operated on a Boeing 787-9, also landed safely, and no injuries were reported.
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