United 757 Honolulu-Denver Declares Emergency

In the last few moments, a United Airlines Boeing 757 operating the Honolulu-Denver flight has declared an emergency.

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N17128 is the aircraft operating this flight.

Updates: United 757 Honolulu-Denver Declares Emergency…

This is a developing story. Updates below.

UPDATE #1 @ 0945 UK time – As a result of this emergency broadcast, United Airlines flight UA1311 bound for Denver looks to be returning back to Honolulu via the u-turn observed on ADS-B data.

UPDATE #2 @ 0946 UK time – As per Planespotters, N17128 (the aircraft operating this flight), is a 25.8 year old Boeing 757-200 that started out life with Continental Airlines in March 1998, before being sent over to United in October 2010.

Of the -200 variant, the U.S carrier has 40 of them in the fleet, of which 37 are in active service and three are currently parked, hosting an average fleet age of 27 years.

UPDATE #3 @ 0948 UK time – At this stage, it is unclear what the nature of this emergency is, with the aircraft currently tracking Westbound back to Hawaii at FL350.

UPDATE #4 @ 0950 UK time – It is also unclear if the aircraft will perform any holds to burn fuel, or whether they will go for a straight-in approach back to Honolulu. We also don’t know if this particular airframe will continue on to Denver after this.

UPDATE #5 @ 0952 UK time – United Airlines flight UA1311 has started it’s descent back to the islands following it’s emergency call a few moments ago.

UPDATE #6 @ 0957 UK time – UA1311, originally bound for Denver, is now with Honolulu Approach as the aircraft gets ready for it’s emergency landing.

UPDATE #7 @ 1003 UK time – UA1311 now overhead the airfield.

UPDATE #8 @ 1010 UK time – United Airlines flight UA1311 is now on final approach to Honolulu, following it’s emergency broadcast not too long ago.

UPDATE #9 @ 1016 UK time – TOUCHDOWN! UA1311, originally bound for Denver, has appeared to have landed safely back into Honolulu following an emergency call that prompted a u-turn back to the islands.

UPDATE #10 @ 1017 UK time – Understood that fire crews are going to give the aircraft a once over before taxing to stand.

UPDATE #11 @ 1023 UK time – Fire crews were checking for any leaking fluid, indicating a hydraulic issue onboard the aircraft.

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