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A United Airlines flight bound for Spain was forced to return to Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday evening after a potential security threat emerged mid-flight.
The Boeing 767, carrying 190 passengers and 12 crew members, had departed around 6 p.m. for Palma de Mallorca. The aircraft landed back at Newark at 9:37 p.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The unusual incident reportedly stemmed from a passenger naming their Bluetooth device a “certain four-letter word,” according to air traffic control audio. Security personnel were awaiting the aircraft’s inspection upon its return.
A passenger posting on social media said crew members repeatedly asked passengers to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two devices remained on (Joshua Lott/AFP via Getty Images)
A passenger posting on social media said crew members repeatedly asked passengers to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two devices remained on. The flight turned around after communicating with the airline’s headquarters in Chicago.
Passengers had to evacuate as the aircraft was swept by Port Authority police, and passengers were rescreened by TSA and Customs and Border Patrol before reboarding. The airline declined to provide specifics on the cause of the incident.
Passengers boarded a replacement flight with a new crew, which took off early Sunday morning and landed in Palma in the afternoon.
This was the latest incident with a United Airlines flight this month.
A United Airlines flight en route from Chicago to Minneapolis was forced to make an emergency diversion to Wisconsin on Friday night after a 75-year-old passenger, reportedly experiencing a “mental health crisis,” allegedly made repeated attempts to breach the cockpit, according to airline and law enforcement officials.
Flight UA2005, which had departed Chicago O’Hare International Airport around 8 p.m., was rerouted approximately 90 minutes later to Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, flight records indicate.
The individual, whom the airline described in a statement to multiple outlets as an “unruly passenger,” was restrained during the flight and kept under control until the aircraft landed. Federal and local authorities met the plane on the ground and subsequently detained the man, an FBI spokesperson confirmed to The Independent.
Earlier this month, a United flight landing at Newark airport struck a semitrailer truck and a light pole, though no one was injured.