Pictured: Terrifying moment escape chute went off INSIDE United flight in mid-air forcing emergency landing in Wichita
- United Airlines flight 1463 was forced to land in Wichita, Kansas
- It had been bound for John Wayne Airport near LA from Chicago O'Hare
- The cause of the malfunction is not yet clear
- Passengers describe hearing a loud bang and hissing noise when it opened
- Cabin crew ran back from the inflating chute in terror, passenger says
Passengers used their smartphones to capture the terrifying moment an emergency chute inflated inside their jet as they flew across the Mid-West.
The huge inflatable chute, usually used for escaping the plane after a crash landing, burst into the cabin as the jet soared 40,000ft over Kansas.
Passengers described hearing a loud bang followed by a hissing noise, and seeing flight attendants recoil in horror, as the incident unfolded on the domestic flight from Chicago to Los Angeles.
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Terrifying: The scene aboard United Airlines Flight UA1462 when the escape chute inflated in mid-air
Witnesses described hearing a bang and a hiss as the chute inflated, blocking access to the rear doors
The United Airlines flight no. 1463 was diverted to Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas, although safety workers insisted the jet never lost cabin pressure.
United said the cause of the opening was unclear, but kake.com reports that account contradicts an initial report from 911 operators that someone aboard the jet had tried to open an emergency door.
Flight 1463 had taken off from Chicago O'Hare Airport with 101 passengers and crew and was bound for John Wayne Airport, near Los Angeles, when the chute inflated.
It landed at Wichita at 10.30pm last night, local time. No one was hurt.
A FlightRadar24 map showed how Flight 1463 had reached an altitude of 40,000ft when the incident occurred.
It had actually flown past Wichita when its pilot made the decision to make the emergency landing, forcing the jet to make a U-turn to return back to the Mid-West city.
Emergency landing: The United Airlines flight no. 1463 was diverted to Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita after the inflatable suddenly opened - although safety workers insisted the jet never lost cabin pressure
Flight attendants inspect the inflatable chute inside the jet after determining that the doors had not opened
'Scariest flight of all time': Emergency workers are pictured on the jet after it was forced to land in Wichita
Turn around: This map from FlightRadar24.com shows how the jet was forced to make a mid-air U-turn
Passenger Taylor Martinez, a mobile app entrepreneur and former University of Nebraska football star, tweeted to describe his experience as the 'scariest flight of all time.'
Michael Schroeder, who was sitting near the front of the jet when the slide opened, told The Wichita Eagle: 'I heard a kind of loud pop and hissing noise.
'I turned around to the back and that slide that would normally go outside the plane so you can slide down in an emergency had for some odd reason deployed inside the plane while we were flying.
'Fortunately nobody was back there.'
He said the pilot immediately took to the intercom and said he was going to land as soon as he could 'figure out where'.
'A few minutes later he said, "We're going to Wichita,"' said Mr Schroeder.
A United Airlines Boeing 737: A similar jet was forced to make an emergency landing in Wichita after its escape chute opened inside
the cabin as it flew from Chicago O'Hare to John Wayne Airport near Los Angeles
A second passenger, interviewed by KWCH12, who didn't give her name, said: 'You just heard a big bang and a hiss and [the cabin crew] just had a panicked look.
'They quickly took the carts and they ran backwards to the front of the plane and we all turned around and the back cabinet, [the] part of the plane where they sat, was full of the chute.
'The first thing that went through my mind was that the chute opened and it probably popped out of the door which meant that we would probably lose pressure immediately.
'Luckily that didn't happen, it just inflated inside.'
United said all passengers were seated at the time of the incident and added that earlier reports that a passenger had attempt to open the door in flight were false.
The airline said in a statement seen by kake.com: 'The flight diverted to Wichita, Kansas, after the emergency evacuation slide accidentally deployed. No one was injured and the flight landed safely.
'We are flying in another aircraft to resume the flight and get our customers to their final destination as quickly as possible.'
It said its maintenance team would inspect the aircraft to determine what happened. In the meantime, passengers were offered hotel rooms for the night before a connecting flight could be arranged.
Boeing referred requests for comment back to United Airlines.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2674874/United-flight-L-A-forced-make-emergency-landing-escape-chute-inflates-INSIDE-airplane.html#ixzz369016dQP
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