Unhappy Love Affair Downs L.A.-Bound Jet
A United Airlines DC-10 flying from Washington to Los Angeles made an emergency landing today at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport after a “distraught” woman passenger suggested that her estranged boyfriend might have sabotaged the flight.
United Flight 51 with 192 passengers aboard left Washington’s Dulles International Airport at 8:50 a.m. and landed at Hopkins at 10:38 a.m.
“The passenger involved is being questioned by the FBI,” United spokesman Thomas Germuska said in Chicago.
The passengers left the aircraft after a safe landing and all luggage was unloaded.
“There was a complete search of the airplane . . . passenger luggage, all matched up. Nothing was there and it went on,” Germuska said. “You got a woman who was distraught over the fact that she had a broken romance on her hands.”
He said she was traveling alone.
The passengers were told to expect to be delayed in Cleveland until early afternoon. The flight had been due in Los Angeles at 11:05 a.m. PST.
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