United Airlines' 787 Dreamliner just started flying recently and it is already facing issues. The brand new plane was forced to make an emergency landing due to a mechanical problem.
Flight 1146 was headed to Neward from Houston on Tuesday but it was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans when it was facing a mechanical issue. The pilots declared an emergency while in flight. They then safely landed the plane in New Orleans and the jet, carrying 184 passengers,was greeted by fire trucks on the runway, Reuters reports.
During an initial inspection, no fire was found and there was no sign of a problem with the electricity flow, although there was a problem with the aft electrical equipment bay.
It is not clear what caused the issue and there is no indication that is is an issue that would occur on United's other two Dreamliners. The airline just received the latest Dreamliner on November 27.
The new jet had issues from the start. It faced three years of delays during production. This latest issue might raise concerns among travelers, but emergency landings are not a rare occurrence, especially when an aircraft is new.
"These are the typical growing pains one would expect with a new airplane as it enters service," Carter Leake, a former military and commercial pilot who is now an analyst with BB&T Capital Markets told Reuters. "No conclusions can be drawn."
When making the emergency landing, pilots could have landed at a closer airport like in Jackson, Mississippi, but they landed at the New Orleans airport because it was more able to accommodate the 174 passengers and 10 crew members on board. After the landing, they were placed on other flights to continue to Newark.
United Airlines is the first U.S. airline to use Dreamliners, The first 787 started flying on November 4. Dreamliners are the first commercial planes to be made mostly of lightweight carbon composites.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
