United pilot makes ‘terrifying’ explosion announcement before emergency landing

‘You could feel the plane start to pick up in speed. Everyone was terrified’ says passenger

A United Airlines Boeing 767-300 (Getty Images)

Passengers had a shock on an United Airlines flight on Friday after the pilot reportedly made a “terrifying” announcement about an explosion in the cargo hold.

Flight 2425 from Santa Ana, California to Houston, Texas was forced to divert to Austin around 4pm on 11 March after a “mechanical issue” was detected on board, the airline confirmed.

Passenger Dillon Nathaniel told Fox News: “The public announcement system came on and said that there was an explosion in the cargo and there could or may not be a fire.

“You could feel the plane start to pick up in speed. Everyone was terrified," he added, speaking at Austin airport after the landing.

“The flight attendants tried to keep everyone as calm as possible.”

Nathaniel also posted a video to Twitter with the caption “There was a f***ing explosion on my plane. Everyone is out on the tarmac. Fire marshal is here and it’s freezing outside.”

He told press that passengers had been forced to stand on the tarmac for nearly an hour waiting for a shuttle bus to the terminal.

United Airlines confirmed that the plane had suffered a mechanical issue and that it had landed safely at 5.25pm, with no passengers harmed.

A statement from United to US press said: “United flight 2425 from Orange County, California to Houston diverted to Austin out of an abundance of caution for a mechanical issue."

“The plane landed safely, passengers deplaned on the airfield and were transported to the terminal. We have assigned a new plane to continue the flight to Houston.”

United last week announced that, following a strict vaccine requirement for staff introduced in August 2021, it will allow unvaccinated colleagues to return to work at the end of March.