A United Airlines domestic flight between Chicago and New York was diverted to Pittsburgh on Saturday, following a mid-air security concern. The service, which was operating as UA 2092, had departed from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) when the diversion was required mid-journey. On arrival at Pittsburgh International Airport(PIT), all passengers and crew were evacuated safely.

Onboard the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the plane was carrying a total of 159 passengers and six crew members, and following the evacuation, there have been no reports of injury. Initial audio recordings, as shared on LiveATC.net, identify that the pilot had spoken to air traffic control and discussed an issue of beeping onboard, and it was to be treated as a potential bomb.

UA2092 Diverted To Pittsburgh Due To A Bomb Threat

Credit: Shutterstock

Using data from Flightradar24, the service had departed from Chicago on the morning on Saturday, April 18, almost two hours late. The flight, which was scheduled to leave the Windy City, was delayed due to the late arrival of the inbound flight, which forced the New York-bound service to leave at 9:54 am, instead of 8:00 am.

The plane eventually departed in a westerly direction, before turning north-east over the city of Chicago and across Lake Michigan. It quickly rose to its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet and headed towards LaGuardia. As the plane was passing over Cleveland, it appears this is when the situation took a turn, with the plane just five minutes later taking an abrupt turn towards Pittsburgh for an emergency landing.

Simple Flying reached out to United Airlines for comment on the incident and was provided the following statement:

Landed in Pittsburgh Safely With Passengers And Crew Evacuated

Credit: Flightradar24

The 737 MAX 8 aircraft operating the flight touched down at Pittsburgh some one hour and seven minutes after its initial departure from Chicago, and was met by the Allegheny County Police Department (ACPD) and their respective bomb squad. According to People, an Explosive Ordance Disposal (EOD) team, with a group of K9s, conducted a sweep of the plane and all passengers and their luggage. All produced a negative result for explosive material.

Displaced passengers from the diverted flight were eventually reaccommodated onto a replacement flight and then were able to travel to New York. No major disruptions to any other flights were experienced at Pittsburgh during the incident.

At the time of writing, the plane involved, N37325, remains on the apron at Pittsburgh and is expected to return to regular operation on Sunday, April 19, with current flight data showing it will operate UA2267 at 12:00 back to O’Hare.

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Details Of The Aircraft Involved: N37325

Credit: Shutterstock

The plane at the centre of the bomb threat was a 2.5-year-old 737 MAX 8. The plane, which was delivered to United in November 2023, is a lease from Irish aviation lessor SMBC Aviation Capital. The plane is configured to carry a total of 166 passengers across two classes, 16 in Domestic First in a two-by-two configuration, while economy class caters for 150 passengers in the standard three-by-three configuration.

At just 2.5 years of age, the aircraft is relatively new to United, and its recent flight history has it placed primarily on domestic routes or the occasional trip to the Caribbean. In the lead-up to the incident between Chicago and New York, the flight was only on its second leg for the day, having previously operated from Harrisburg International Airport (MDT) to Chicago before its planned trip to the Big Apple. Further aircraft characteristics below as per ch-aviation:

United Airlines operates almost 600 of the Boeing 737 family of aircraft, with the latest data putting more than 120 of the MAX 8 in service for the Star Alliancee carrier. This is also complemented by more than 140 of the MAX 9.