An American Airlines flight had to return to its airport of origin recently due to an emergency mid-flight. The aircraft was flying to the Caribbean and the pilots decided to turn around shortly after takeoff. Thankfully, the plane made a safe landing with no injuries onboard.
Emergency landing
On February 22, an American Airlines
flight between Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in North Carolina and Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) in the Bahamas returned to Charlotte shortly after takeoff.
According to Flightradar24, the Boeing 737 reached an altitude of 21,000 feet and was seen in a holding pattern where it flew in circles multiple times before heading back to Charlotte Airport. A mechanical issue is said to be the reason behind the pilots’ decision to turn back.
An American Airlines spokesperson told Simple Flying,
“On Feb. 22, American Airlines flight 859 with service from Charlotte (CLT) to Nassau (NAS) returned to CLT shortly after takeoff due to a mechanical issue. The flight landed safely and taxied to the gate under its own power. The aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. Customers boarded a replacement aircraft to continue to NAS. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and apologize for the inconvenience this caused.”
About the flight and aircraft
American Airlines flight AA 859 is a scheduled service that departs Charlotte at 14:45 and arrives in Nassau at 17:15. The airline deploys a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on this route. On average, the flight takes around one hour and forty-five minutes to complete.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
The aircraft involved in the incident on Saturday is a Boeing 737-800 registered as N928AN. According to ch-aviation, it is 25.10 years old and was delivered to American in February 2000. It can seat 172 passengers across economy, economy plus and business class and has accumulated more than 64,500 hours as of September 2024 across 27,127 flight cycles.
Recent incidents
An airplane turning back to its airport of origin or diverting somewhere else due to an emergency onboard is not a rare occurrence. In fact, the same day as the incident above, a Delta Air Lines plane bound for Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport from Los Angeles was forced to return after smoke was detected in the galley.
Earlier this month, a United Airlines flight from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) in San José del Cabo, Mexico, had to turn back due to a windshield issue. Thankfully, the aircraft made a safe landing, and no injuries were reported.
Photo: GingChen | Shutterstock
On February 1, Delta Air Lines
flight DL2090, which was flying between New York and Orlando, diverted to Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) after an odor was detected in the cabin.
Other American Airlines news
Coming back to American Airlines, the carrier recently also added a new longest domestic route this year. From October, it will return on the Chicago O’Hare to Honolulu sector, covering 3,687 nautical miles (6,828 km).
The airline previously flew this route for decades on aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 as well as the Boeing 767. American last flew this route in 2021 and this time, it will deploy a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. Simple Flying’s route expert James Pearson has analyzed this in detail in the article below.
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American Airlines Gets New Longest Domestic Route
The route was number one before.
American Airlines was also in the news recently after one of its
Boeing 787-9 planes made a diversion to Rome, Italy
, due to a bomb threat. The plane was flying from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL).
The plane was cruising at 37,000 feet over the Caspian Sea, just east of Azerbaijan, and had around four and a half hours left in its nearly 15-hour journey to New Delhi when it turned around. The 787 was thoroughly examined upon landing, and it was eventually found to be a false alarm. American confirmed that the aircraft had been cleared to continue to New Delhi.