Southwest Jet From San Jose To Phoenix Diverted To Oakland After Report Of Emergency
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A Phoenix-bound Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 landed safely at Oakland International Airport Monday after its wing flaps did not perform correctly following takeoff from Mineta San Jose International Airport, authorities said.
Southwest Flight 468, with 128 passengers and a crew of five, landed at 3:30 p.m. at the Oakland airport and taxied on its own to Gate 29, airport spokeswoman Mona Hernandez said.
The flight took off from the San Jose airport at 2:34 p.m. heading for Phoenix and soon afterward radioed an alert about an emergency and that the plane would be landing in Oakland, Mineta airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said.
Soon after takeoff, the captain in command of the flight in the cockpit found that the redundant flight control wing flaps were not performing optimally and, as required, diverted from the plane's flight plan, Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said.
The captain declared an emergency to receive a priority landing into Oakland International Airport because that is where the airline's Technical Operations maintenance hub is located, along with many replacement aircraft, according to Hawkins.
The operations facility will take care of repairs to the plane and a new airplane is being assigned to the passengers and crew of Flight 468 so they may proceed to Phoenix, Hawkins said.
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