Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Mechanical Issue Forces a Ground Stop

(CTN News) – A Southwest Airlines plane reported mechanical problems at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Friday, prompting a temporary ground stop. According to reports, a hydraulic problem caused the aircraft to crash.

The Boeing 737-700 can be seen on video from the ground sitting on the taxiway surrounded by fire trucks responding to the incident.

Southwest Airlines is helping passengers reach their final destinations quickly.

The diversion to Los Angeles

According to the Daily Mail, the aircraft landed safely at LAX, but the airport issued the ground stop after learning of the mechanical difficulties.

The aircraft, N960WN, was operating WN1379 and originated at Sacramento International Airport (SMF).

In spite of the fact that the flight was scheduled to arrive at Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in nearby Burbank, pilots were reportedly forced to divert to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Based on the data provided by Flightradar24.com, N960WN departed SMF at 10:31 on schedule. Despite the fact that the flight was scheduled to arrive at BUR at 11:28, the Daily Mail reports that the flight was diverted to LAX shortly after 11:20.

The plane landed at LAX safely at 11:35. According to FlightAware, the aircraft flew at a cruising altitude of 31,000 feet at a speed of 519 mph. It has been reported that the ground stop was lifted shortly after N460WN landed safely at LAX.

In a statement to the Daily Mail, Southwest confirmed the incident.

Social media footage shows emergency responders surrounding the aircraft.

Legs with multiple attachments

According to FlightAware data, WN1397 operated six legs on Friday, starting at SMF and ending at Denver International Airport.

Southwest Airlines operates on a point-to-point network rather than the traditional hub-and-spoke system that is employed by US legacy carriers.

This is a typical daily flight schedule for Southwest Airlines’ aircraft. Southwest Airlines flights use one aircraft for each leg, while others utilize a number of aircraft to carry out the legs throughout the day.

Southwest Airlines seems to have deployed another aircraft to continue the flight to Burbank. Flightradar24.com reports that N7747C, another 737-700, departed LAX at 14:27 and landed at BUR 10 minutes later. The flight to Chicago Midway Airport was continued despite the delay, with N7747C picking up the next leg of the flight.

The aircraft needs to be repaired

Southwest has indicated that N960WN has been taken out of service for maintenance. However, the aircraft will soon return to service.

Four flights are tentatively scheduled for Sunday, the first being WN650 from LAX to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. After that, the aircraft will operate as WN103 from Denver to Fresno and Las Vegas.

A 12-year-old 737-700, N960WN has nearly 23,000 flight cycles, according to ch-aviation. Approximately 8 hours and 49 minutes are spent on it each day.

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