A United Airlines Airbus A319 traveling from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) earlier this week was forced to divert and make an emergency landing due to a door warning alert. The light showed in the cockpit immediately after the flight took off, resulting in a two-hour delay.

The incident occurred on the evening of Wednesday, January 10th, and included United flight UA2434, according to the Aviation Herald. According to Flightradar24, the flight took off from Sarasota’s 2,896-meter-long asphalt-paved runway 32 at 15:55 local time and landed at 3,000 feet three minutes later. According to The Independent, the reason for this was because the flight’s pilots received a door indicator alert in the cockpit. While the aircraft was not experiencing any pressurization concerns, the crew chose to return to the ground as quickly as possible, initially aiming to return to Sarasota.

But in the end, as can be seen above, they decided to detour to Tampa International (TPA), which is located directly to the north. The flight subsequently touched down on the facility’s 3,353-meter-long concrete-paved runway 01L in a safe manner at 16:35 local time, some 40 minutes after its initial takeoff from Sarasota. When the jet landed in Tampa, fire crews met it, according to The Independent.

Flightradar24 data show that the aircraft that was operating the route remained on the ground in Tampa for slightly under two hours after making an emergency landing at the three-runway hub. The Independent reports that United Airlines was eventually able to repair the issue during this period.

After this, the airplane was permitted to resume its journey to Chicago, departing from Tampa at 18:23 local time. After an otherwise uneventful flight of two hours and 19 minutes, the aircraft, carrying 123 passengers and five crew members, landed at O’Hare International Airport at 19:41 local time, bringing the whole thing to a close.

While the encounter ultimately concluded without issue, it is natural that the crew took the warning so seriously. After all, similar accidents have been a hot issue recently, following the startling in-flight loss of a deactivated emergency exit door on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX last week. Earlier this week, United Airlines reported finding loose door plug bolts on the same aircraft type.

United Airlines flight UA2434 is a regularly scheduled domestic flight that travels daily from Sarasota to Chicago. Its daily departure and arrival times are 15:45 and 17:52, respectively, implying that, while it was just 10 minutes late leaving Sarasota on January 10th, the diversion meant it arrived in Chicago nearly two hours later.

In terms of aircraft types, Flightradar24 data shows that United uses the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A319 on this route. The latter was involved in the incident on Wednesday, with the exact example holding the registration N895UA. This 126-seat twinjet is 17 years old, according to ch-aviation, and is one of 81 A319-100s in United Airlines’ fleet.

Sources:

• Simple Flying
• The Aviation Herald
• Flightradar24
• The Independent

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