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A disruptive passenger forced a Newark-bound United Airlines flight to quickly turn around to Las Vegas late Saturday night, grounding the cross-country trip until Sunday morning.
United Flight 1681 had just taken off from Harry Reid International Airport when the crew reported “a potential safety issue” in the cabin.
The Boeing 737, carrying 150 passengers and six crew members, landed safely in Vegas around 11:05 p.m. without any injuries, multiple media outlets reported.
Travel nightmare unfolds as major airline abandons flight after heartbreaking 12-hour delay
“United Flight 1681 from Las Vegas to Newark on Saturday, October 24 returned safely to Las Vegas to respond to a potential safety issue,” United Airlines said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
“The flight was delayed overnight due to a crew outage and departed for Newark this morning,” the statement continued.
An unruly passenger forced a Newark-bound United Airlines flight to return to Las Vegas late Saturday night, grounding the trip until Sunday morning. (iStock)
Although the in-flight scare was resolved without physical harm, the diversion triggered an overnight delay after the flight crew exceeded their legally permitted working hours.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment.
In an audio recording of air traffic control obtained by ATC.com, a controller can be heard asking pilots if a passenger in question was “compliant or restrained.”
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“The passenger doesn’t know anything about what’s happening,” one pilot said. “The flight attendant saw him texting saying he was going to divert the plane and called me and we were locked down. … No hold, passenger is complying because he is unaware.”
The plane finally took off for Newark Liberty International Airport the next morning.
The FAA confirmed it was launching an investigation into the incident, while airport officials released further details to United Airlines and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Fox 5 Las Vegas reported.
The flight diversion caused an overnight delay after the flight crew exceeded their legally permitted working hours. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
In a statement to People, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that authorities arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of making threats or transmitting false information regarding acts of terrorism.
He was then booked into the Clark County Detention Center, according to the outlet.
Fox News Digital has contacted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for further details.
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The pilot informed air traffic control that the plane was still “significantly overweight” and needed to burn excess fuel before landing, according to the audio recording.
An overweight landing risks adding stress to the aircraft’s landing gear and structural parts, according to SKYbrary Aviation Safety.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incident. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
To avoid potential damage during an unplanned landing, planes sometimes dump fuel or fly longer to burn it off.
Reflecting this, flight paths show the plane completed two loops to burn fuel before returning to land at LAS, according to FlightAware.
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In May, another United Airlines flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota, made an emergency landing in Madison, Wisconsin, after a passenger allegedly tried to storm the cockpit, according to air traffic control audio.
The flight, which took off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, “landed safely in Madison, Wisconsin, to respond to a security concern regarding an unruly passenger,” United Airlines previously told Fox News Digital.
Another United Airlines flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently made an emergency landing in Madison, Wisconsin. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
The flight landed at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison about 90 minutes after takeoff, according to flight tracking data.
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Although United did not reveal the specific nature of the security issue, Dane County Regional Airport air traffic control audio reviewed by WISN revealed that the passenger made “multiple attempts to enter the cockpit.”
Robert McGreevy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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