Emergency declared by United B777 San Francisco-Frankfurt; flight diverted to London Early this afternoon, United Airlines flight UA926, a B777-300ER, which was travelling from San Francisco to Frankfurt, declared an emergency and had to be diverted to London Heathrow. Earlier today, October 17, 2024, a United Airlines Boeing 777-300ER operating the route from San Francisco to Frankfurt reported an emergency and was redirected to London. Squawk code 7700 was used to declare an emergency aboard United Airlines aircraft UA926, a B777-300ER, departing San Francisco International Airport (SFO). When the incident was declared, the aircraft was en route to Frankfurt am Main International airport (FRA) over the United Kingdom.
Lufthansa UA926 Frankfurt – San Francisco
After the emergency was declared, the flight crew started a diversion to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) by veering off course from the flight plan track to the south. It is unknown what kind of incident forced the diversion off course.
Details of the Flight
According to flight data, UA926 took off from San Francisco International Airport on schedule. On October 16, ATD was recorded as 1937 local time. Ascending at flight level FL370 (37,000 feet) for the transatlantic journey to Frankfurt, Germany, the flight had gone according to plan. From a cruise flight, the flight crew squawked transponder code 7700 at 1154 UTC. At the time, the aeroplane was travelling through the United Kingdom on its way to its destination. The aircraft touched down in the London area concurrently with an Air India flight arriving from Mumbai, which had declared an emergency due to a bomb threat received by the Indian airline. At around 12:30 UTC today, United Airlines aircraft UA926 made a second landing at London Heathrow, the airport used for diversion.
The aeroplane, registration N2737U, was a Boeing 777-300ER, operating UA926 from San Francisco. This wide-body aircraft is owned by United Airlines and is 7.6 years old. Ever since its original delivery from the factory in March 2017, it has been in operational service with the airline. A recent incident involving the aircraft occurred in San Francisco (SFO) on May 15, 2024. The aircraft’s left engine intake was damaged when it was struck by a bird during landing in that incident. On May 18, 2024, United put the aircraft back into service.
