UA flight diverted to IAD

Aviation Notable Activity
1

Hi all,

UAL990 from IAD to ACC diverted back to IAD after only an hour of flying. I live in the path that this flight took back to IAD and it flew directly over my house. But, it was very strange. I heard the very loud noise of the plane overhead (a quick check shows that it was flying at only 6,000 ft) and once I heard it move off into the distance, about 15-20 seconds later, I heard an even louder noise from a plane engine. My immediate thought was that maybe this flight was being escorted back by fighter jets, but I can find nothing about this diversion.
Anybody have any ideas?

Here is the link:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL990/history/20110530/0244Z/KIAD/DGAA

2

I just listened to the ATC recording of the approach/landing - nothing too insightful there but yes, there was an Air Force plane also flying (Callsign Brave 1) but it’s not entirely clear if the two events are related.

3

Confirmed - a passenger became violent on board the flight and F-16s were sent to escort the plane back to Dulles.

washingtonpost.com/audio-pil … video.html

4

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I cracked this case two days before it even made news! :smiley:

Here is the full link to the story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-common-airplane-annoyance-leads-to-a-costly-brouhaha-in-the-skies-over-dc/2011/05/31/AGrlMcFH_story.html