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United Airlines jet narrowly avoids mid-air collision with glider
A Chicago bound United Airlines flight was forced to take immediate evasive action to avoid a collision with an errant glider in its path.
The jet was preparing for touchdown at Chicago O’Hare Airport when the crew sighted a small glider aircraft which was not picked up by radar.
It sharply climbed to avoid a collision and landed safely about 30 minutes later.
The FAA is investigating.
"All of a sudden, the right wing just completely dropped on the plane, and we did a really sharp turn right. No one screamed, but it was enough that many people grabbed their seats and their armrests," said passenger Callum Snape.
"I couldn’t see what was happening, but I knew that it was out of the ordinary."
Snape said the pilot later informed passengers and apologized for the abrupt ‘split second decision.’
"United flight 246 from Vancouver to O’Hare landed safely and all passengers deplaned normally after the pilots deviated from the aircraft’s flight path because they spotted a glider," the airline said in a statement.
It is ‘following up with the FAA to do a complete review of what happened.’
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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