United Airlines UA2005 Diverted To Madison After Multiple Attempts To Breach The Cockpit

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On Friday, UA 2005 had been flying to Minneapolis, where passengers, as reported by CNN, had recounted the situation where a male individual made his way to the front of the plane in reach for a flight attendant when other passengers had to hold him back. The individual had made multiple attempts to breach the cockpit.

Air traffic control audio recordings captured hear the crew telling ground controllers at Madison that law enforcement officers onboard the plane were able to assist with restraining the unruly passenger. There had been commotion on the aircraft following the incident, and eventually, the law enforcement officers were able to control the individual by sitting on either side of him.

Due to the situation, the captain, out of an abundance of caution, decided to divert to Madison, where the police were able to board the aircraft and handcuff the individual. He was detained by the Dane County Sheriff’s office.

Simple Flying reached out to United Airlines for comment on the incident, but a spokesperson could not be immediately reached.

The FBI has been notified

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Due to the seriousness of the incident, the FBI was notified, and the FBI Milwaukee Madison Resident Agency, and other law enforcement partners were able to respond immediately to the incident and met the aircraft at the airport. A short statement was provided by FBI spokesperson Caroline Clancy to CNN:

“A subject was detained by the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and afterwards passengers resumed their flight.”

According to recounts of the incident, it appears that trouble had started to brew on the flight before it even took off from Chicago, with the individual having stood up during taxiing and being asked multiple times to remain in his seat. The unruly passenger allegedly had limited English and spoke Russian.

The flight had a total of 147 passengers and six crew members onboard, and there were no reports of injury. After the flight diverted to Madison and the passenger was removed, the flight was able to continue to Minneapolis.

Flight Data For UA2005

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Looking at flight data for UA2005, the plane had departed from Chicago at 8:02 PM on Friday and had flown for around an hour when the incident unfolded. This led to the captain diverting to Madison and touching down one hour and 27 minutes after leaving Chicago at 9:29 PM.

Once the passenger was detained and removed from the aircraft, the plane was able to depart for its intended destination of Minneapolis, and left Madison in the early hours of 1:25 AM, for a 54-minute non-stop flight to MSP. The plane arrived at 2:19 AM, almost five hours after its intended arrival time.

The aircraft at the centre of the incident was that of United’s Boeing 737-900ER, which, as per ch-aviation, bears registration N69818 (serial number 42177). This aircraft first entered operations for United back in March 2014 and has been flying for the Star Alliance carrier for 12.2 years. It is configured with a total of 179 seats, with 20 First class seats, and 159 in Economy.