Posted on 10/30/2025 7:04:28 PM PDT by Red Badger
Well, I didn't know that this was a thing.
A United Airlines flight had to make a U-turn on a transatlantic flight because someone dropped their laptop.
You'd think simply dropping your computer wouldn't create an air travel incident.
But the fact that this passenger just so happened to drop the computer through a crack and into the cargo hold could have resulted in a midair disaster.
Here's Business Insider:
An audio recording published by LiveATC.net and uploaded to YouTube appears to show the reason for the diversion.
'We have a minor situation here with a passenger who has somehow dropped a laptop down the sidewall into the cargo pit of the airplane,' one of the pilots tells air traffic control.
'We don't know the status of it, we can't access it, we can't see it,' he added. 'So our decision is to return to Dulles and find this laptop before we can continue over the ocean.'
Imagine you're on a flight from Washington to Rome and you have a false start like this over Cape Cod.
As laptops contain lithium batteries, they pose a potential fire risk.
If overcharged or damaged, it can result in thermal runaway, leading to rapid temperature increase.
And because the laptop was inaccessible, the crew might not know if it had been damaged or caught fire until it was too late.
That's the same reason airlines require electronics to be carried in your carry-on rather than your checked luggage.
The ground crew located the laptop, everything was fine, and the flight was quickly back in the air and on the way to Rome.
Only to arrive four hours late.
Just another reason for you to be paranoid about ruining everyone's day the next time you take a plane.
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What?...........
Forgot the link
https://san.com/cc/why-a-passengers-lost-laptop-forced-a-transatlantic-united-flight-to-turn-around/
Click through to FlightAware.
Aircraft type.
Sooo, there’s a crack in the floor, open to the cargo hold, but it’s the *laptop* that threatened the airworthiness?!? ✈
BOEING 767-400
That will get you into the avionics bay. Not sure if there’s a pass through to the hold.
CC
Meanwhile the MD-11 (nee DC-10) continues to fly. But only as a freighter.
CC
Yup. It’s just very odd to me that NO ONE was reporting on even the manufacturer.
Straight Arrow News had the FA info and didn’t mention anything. I’m an aviation geek and this is just strange.
But you know what’s REALLY weird?
It’s not the first time it’s happened:
https://simpleflying.com/united-airlines-boeing-767-300er-diverts-shannon-laptop-stuck-seat/
Too many ghosts.
"Friends...how we happened to come to America is a great story. But I don't tell that. When we first started out, we got-a no idea you give us this-a grand reception. We donna deserve it. And when I say we donna deserve it, believe me, I know what I'm a-talkin' about...So now I tell you how we fly to America. The first time we started, we get-a halfway across when we run out-a gasoline and we gotta go back. Then I take-a twice as much gasoline. This time we-a just about to land - maybe three feet - when whaddya think? We run out-a gasoline again and a-back we go again to get-a more gas. This time I take-a plenty gas. Well, we get-a halfway over when what-a you think-a happened? We forgot-a the aeroplane. So we gotta sit down and we talk it over. Then I get-a a great idea. We no take-a gasoline. We no take-a the aeroplane. We take a steamship. And that, friends, is how we fly across the ocean."
Fiorello: Hey wait, wait! What does this say here? This thing here?
Driftwood: Oh that. Oh that’s the usual clause...that’s in every contract. That just says...eh...it says...eh...”If any of the parties participating in this contract are shown not to be in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified.”
Fiorello: Well, I don’t know...
Driftwood: It’s alright, that’s in every contract! That’s what they call a “sanity clause.”
Fiorello: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...you can’t fool me. There ain’t no sanity clause!
“What sort of airliner operates safely with a pressurized, heated cabin that communicates spacially with a non-pressurized, unheated cargo hold? “
None ...
“Why is there a ‘crack’ into the cargo hold?”
No kidding. I’ve been flying 56 years and never once was I able to see through a ‘crack’ into the cargo hold. It’s COLD down there. Well, maybe those cracks explain why my feet are cold when I fly.
There wasn’t a ‘crack’ just a void between the floor and the wall where they meet, large enough for a laptop to slip through.
The cargo hold on this aircraft is pressurized.............
Essential for feeding the stowaways hiding in the cargo area or the wheel wells...
I have ridden all the Jumbos with the exception of the Airbus A380. The L1011 was my favorite.
Maybe that was where Stacey Abrams was...
That extra 2 or 3 hours of flying probably cost the airline at least 10 grand.
“Essential for feeding the stowaways hiding in the cargo area or the wheel wells...”
LOL...
Not sure about all the cargo holds, but I’ve traveled several times with pets that were placed into the cargo area for flights (including trans-Atlantic) & those areas were obviously pressurized, warm and oxygenated.
(otherwise=dead pets)
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