United Airlines Flight Diverted After Emergency Evacuation Slide Deploys
Passengers traveling to California ended up in Wichita, Kansas.
-- A United Airlines flight from Chicago to California was diverted to Wichita, Kansas, Sunday after the plane’s emergency evacuation slide accidentally deployed, the airline told ABC News.
United Airlines Flight 1463 was carrying 96 passengers and five crew members. All passengers were seated at the time the slide deployed, an airline statement read.
“No one was injured and the flight landed safely,” the airline said.
Multiple passengers, including Michael Davis, reported hearing a pop and then seeing the slide deployed.
"It was interesting. Nobody was scared or anything," Davis said. "The captain made an announcement that we're gonna land in Wichita. "He said, 'Don't worry about the emergency trucks, it's just standard procedure.'"
The airline was providing hotel accommodations for the passengers, and a new flight was to depart Wichita this morning.
A maintenance team was inspecting the aircraft to determine why the slide deployed.
This is not the first time a flight was diverted after a slide deployed. A JetBlue plane was diverted in November 2013 after an evacuation slide was activated. A similar situation occurred on then-Sen. Barack Obama’s plane during the 2008 presidential race.
ABC News aviation consultant John Nance, a retired commercial pilot, called the situation "unusual."
"This is a very, very rare instance to have an emergency slide deploy inside the airplane, especially if it was spontaneous," Nance said.