United Airlines flight diverted to remote Pacific island of Midway

Chicago Tribune ^ | July 12, 2014 | Maya Srikrishnan

[ConservativeStatement]

A United Airlines flight carrying 348 people from Honolulu to Guam was diverted to the tiny Pacific island of Midway because of a “mechanical issue,” the airline said Saturday.

An electrical odor filled the Boeing 777 aircraft and the airline was reviewing the mechanical problem that caused the diversion that occurred Thursday night local time.

Midway Island — a remote, 2.4-square-mile atoll — is located about 1,300 miles northwest of Hawaii and was the site of an important U.S. military base during World War II. It is now home to a national wildlife refuge and has roughly 60 residents.

[rabidralph]

What did he say, something like turn on your flashlight and help guide them home? That was a great episode.

[MUDDOG]

turn on your flashlight and help guide them home?

Yep. Here's the last part:

So if some moment, any moment, you hear the sound of jet engines flying atop the overcast - engines that sound searching and lost - engines that sound desperate - shoot up a flare or do something. That would be Global 33 trying to get home - from The Twilight Zone.

[BBell]

Yes we did. The bar was normally closed the day we arrived but they opened it because we landed. It seemed most of the American civilians showed up there to greet us. We let my daughter who would have been 2 or 3 at the time write on the wall.

The biggest Hermit crabs I have ever seen were on Wake. From a distance they looked like coconuts until we noticed they were moving.