A United Airlines aircraft from Los Angeles to Sydney was forced to make a detour to Pago Pago in the South Pacific after the pilots of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner shut down one of its engines out of concern for an oil leak.
United Airlines flight UA839 took off from Los Angeles late on Thursday night, but more than six hours into the flight’s 14-hour journey to Sydney, the pilots rapidly changed course and began flying toward the central South Pacific’s Samoan Islands.
The seven-and-a-half-year-old aircraft was carried down to a lower altitude after shutting down the right engine, and it landed without additional issue nearly two and a half hours later at Pago Pago International Airport.
Fortunately, United was able to rearrange its itinerary, and it is currently sending a spare Dreamliner from Sydney where it will pick up the stranded passengers and transport them the remainder of the way to Australia.
If everything goes according to plan, passengers will be greeted in 2023 as the jet is making its last preparations to touch down in Sydney at around 12:30 a.m.
