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United heading to Houston Airlines A passenger said the flight was diverted to Austin, Texas, on Friday due to a mechanical issue that left passengers on the tarmac as first responders arrived.
The airline said Flight 2425 departed John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California when it pushed an unspecified landing case.
United Flight 2425 from Orange County, California to Houston The airline told Fox News in a statement, “The plane landed safely, passengers disembarked at the airport and moved to the terminal. We have assigned a new aircraft to continue the flight to Houston.”
Dillon Nathaniel, a DJ who was traveling to Houston to make a call in Dallas, told Fox News he was working on his computer when the flight crew made an announcement of a potential emergency.
“He started the public announcement system and said there was an explosion in the shipment and there may or may not be a fire,” he said while in Austin trying to collect his bag. “You could feel the plane starting to go up really fast.”
“Everyone was terrified,” he added. The hosts tried to keep everyone as calm as possible.”
Nathaniel said that upon landing, passengers were asked to leave their bags and get off the plane. He said they stood on the tarmac for nearly an hour in the cold before the shuttle buses arrived.
A video posted on Twitter shows passengers on the tarmac, some distance from the plane. No one is hurt.
Nathaniel, 28, said he’s a Platini member at United but had to buy another flight to Dallas so he could set up his set, which is due to begin at midnight in the Stereo Live concert hall.
The airline said there was no indication of an explosion and that it was planning to conduct a full inspection of the aircraft.