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.

[MUDDOG]

The only one who ever mentions the Malaysian plane is Coast-to-Coast. George Noory sometimes has on one of the guys who wrote about the TWA 800 crash.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Yes, when the germans bombed Pearl Harbor.;)

[ArmstedFragg]

Google Map Streetview has ground level views of Midway.

[x1stcav]

I landed n Midway in early on my way to the Nam. Pretty sparse terminal facilities at the time.

[sarasmom]

Thank you!

I was thinking my memory was way worse than I thought, since I swear I thought I landed at Midway once, on my way to Guam in the early 1980s on a military charter flight.

IIRC, it was that flight that convinced me to never fly in anything smaller than a DC10...

[SES1066]

Well, that is better than a water landing any day! Twill be interesting how United extricates this flight and its passengers and when.

FYI: Midway was at its peak during the days of the “PanAm Clipper” seaplane flights (Sikorsky S-42, Martin M-130, Boeing 314) between San Francisco and Manila. Max passengers ranged from the M-130’s 36 to the 314’s 74. Flight took a week and stopped overnight at Honolulu, Midway, Wake and Guam.

[GeronL]

lolz

[GeronL]

hahaha

[mountn man]

I always get diverted to places like Duluth, Midway would be extra cool!

What???

Midway way is on the south side of Chicago.

[Lorianne]

Damn, you beat me to it.

[Blood of Tyrants]

A week? We complain now about 12 hour flights.

[LiveFree99]

I’m in Midway airport now.

[B4Ranch]

Did you fly over on a prop plane?

[x1stcav]

Negative. UAL jet of some type.

[Harold Shea]

I remember landing on Wake in `70.

Out the window it looked like a runway

surrounded by water.

You could see masts from ships sticking up in the water.

[Peter ODonnell]

Michelle Obama was on board, she said great I will take a taxi home.

[ClearCase_guy]

The Japanese were a bigger threat than I thought! I’m glad we had torpedo bombers stationed in Illinois!!

[SayNoToDems]

My Dad used to travel quite frequently to Japan during the 50’s.He told of the flights going from San Francisco or LA (can't recall which) to Honolulu...onto Midway...and then to Tokyo.I recall him saying that the stops were all refueling stops.

[easternsky]

Lol my thoughts exactly when read the headline.

[Don Corleone]

When did we leave Midway? I was on a plane that landed there in 1973. We also landed at Wake Island. Both of them were nail biters.

I was flying into Midway and Wake into the middle 60's. I think they began to shut them down soon after Vietnam as the a/c transiting the Pacific became more and more jet types. They are still aux. fields but rarely ever used. Outsiders can come only with prior permission or as in this case an emergency. Midway's Gooney Bird population was a hoot!Another boon docker was Marcus Island about 1/2 way between Midway and Tokyo. That was one desolate and tight squeeze.