United Airlines Flight Diverted Due to ‘Emergency’ Onboard

If you're embarking on a 10-hour overseas flight, the last thing you're hoping for is to have it diverted for any reason. Unfortunately, that's what happened to a United Airlines plane leaving London Heathrow bound for San Francisco today.

According to multiple reports, United flight UA949 took off from London around 2:05 p.m. Thursday. However, less than 90 minutes into its journey, the crew declared an emergency onboard with a 7700 squawk alert.

"#United flight #UAL949/#UA949 operated by #UnitedAirlines from #London to #SanFrancisco is squawking 7700," said the Squawk Alert X/Twitter account. "The aircraft is a #Boeing 777-200(ER) with registration #N74007. Crew has declared emergency and look to be retiring to their origin."

Thankfully, the aircraft was safely diverted to Edinburgh, Scotland, landing around 4:40 p.m., according to reports.

What caused the emergency?

According to AirLive.net, an Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) message indicated the plane was dealing with an issue with its brakes. Another report said recirculation fan failure was also part of the problem.

Edinburgh Live said the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service responded to the plane after it landed but were told to stand down upon arrival.

So far, neither United Airlines nor Edinburgh Airport have issued any official comments on what happened or when the plane would be ready to resume travel.

United experienced a similar diversion last week

Six days ago, a United plane heading from Washington Dulles to Tokyo was diverted, ironically, to San Francisco for a reported technical issue.

The flight made the diversion nine hours into its planned 13-14 hour trip. After a delay, the aircraft returned to the skies and reportedly landed roughly 24 hours after taking off.