EMERGENCY LANDING

Engine trouble forces a United Airlines plane to make an unscheduled stop at Sunport

Engine issues forced a United Airlines plane with 158 people on board to make an unscheduled landing in Albuquerque early Monday morning.

Flight 366 was heading from San Diego to Chicago, but at some point during the flight, a passenger spotted what he thought were flames coming from the right engine of the Boeing 737-900. Thomas Chorny, who took video of the engine, wrote on Twitter that he showed it to airline representatives after landing at the Albuquerque International Sunport.

“Strange to sit there & think ‘What if this is it?’ ” he wrote. “To just sit there & accept the potential fate that seems to be a possibility & not tell the sleeping people around you.” He said he didn’t want to panic anyone else.

“I’m a pretty calm person but took me a while to stop the shakes & trembles,” he wrote.

The airline said in a statement that the diversion was made because of “a mechanical issue with one of the engines.”

According to the statement, the flight landed safely just after 1:30 a.m., and passengers got off the plane as normal. Main

tenance workers in Albuquerque were scheduled to inspect the plane; another aircraft was brought in to finish the trip to Chicago.

United said its mechanics believe the video showed sparks, not flames, coming from the engine, but planned to inspect the engine to confirm.

A handful of other flights have had to make emergency landings this year because of engine problems. In May, a

United jet had to return to Honolulu less than an hour into the f light after f lames were seen coming from an engine on the left side of the plane, USA Today reported.

In July, part of an engine on a Delta MD-88 came loose. Passengers reported hearing a loud noise and seeing smoke. As the engine glowed orange, some on board sent messages to family members.

An Air China flight had to return to Dulles International Airport after reporting an engine fire on a Boeing 777 in September. And last month, a Philippine Airlines flight returned to Los Angeles International Airport not long after taking off because fire was coming from an engine on the Boeing 777. In that case, the flames were spotted by passengers and someone on the ground.

Andrew Ames, who was on a freeway near the airport when he took a video of the plane, wrote on Twitter: “Is a plane supposed to spew flames??”