United jet from SFO forced to land over hydraulics issue

A United Airlines jet flying from San Francisco International Airport to Mexico City on Friday was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles after what officials said was a hydraulics issue.

“On Friday evening, United flight 821 from San Francisco International Airport to Mexico City International Airport was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport due to an issue with the aircraft’s hydraulic system,” said United Airlines officials in a statement. “The flight landed safely and passengers were deplaned normally at the gate. Customers will travel to MEX on a new aircraft scheduled to depart soon.”

The plane left San Francisco at 1:02 p.m. and had entered Mexico when it was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport, where it landed at 4:51 p.m., FlightAware records showed.

United officials said the plane, an Airbus 320, has three hydraulics systems for “redundancy purposes” and that preliminary information showed there was only an issue with one of those systems.

The plane was carrying 105 passengers and five crew members, officials said.

This is at least the fifth incident involving a United Airlines plane this week. Earlier Friday, a United jet rolled off a runway and got stuck in grass at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. On Thursday, a United Airlines flight headed from SFO to Japan lost a wheel during takeoff. On Monday, a United Airlines flight from Houston to Florida made an emergency landing after an engine went up in flames in midair, USA Today reported. Also on Monday, an SFObound United Airlines flight from Honolulu safely landed after engine failure mid-flight.