United Airlines flight 2092 from Chicago O’Hare to New York LaGuardia diverted to Pittsburgh on Saturday with a possible bomb on board. The Boeing 737 MAX squawked 7700 for an emergency. Passengers were told to “brace brace brace” for an emergency landing, and told not to get anything out of the overhead bins. They stopped at the end of the runway. Everyone was told to get off the aircraft and run, according to a passenger on board.
United Airlines flight diverts to Pittsburgh and evacuates on the taxiway. @KDKA @WPXI @WTAE pic.twitter.com/0X2hslpOGK
— Mike Christ Jr (@MChrist6919) April 18, 2026
Here’s a reported first hand account.
I was on board. Diverted for emergency landing. Had us brace brace brace. Said don’t get anything from overhead. Not worth our lives. Landed. Stopped on end of runway right away. Got out on wing and jump Told to Run. Saw thr bomb truck. Awaiting instructions
This is the pilot talking to air traffic control:
Hey, we got an issue up here. We’re getting a sequential feeding suspected item on board. We’re going to have to start treating this as a potential bomb. …Yeah, it’s a beepy noise, sequential one beat per second.
And this is the ACARS message they sent:
— Mike Christ Jr (@MChrist6919) April 18, 2026
Emergency responders addressed the aircraft quickly.
00:00 all passengers have been evacuated.
00:03 We have EOD on scene with us right now.
00:05 We’re going to be explaining the situation to them and we’ll be assisting with them.
00:12 Copy aircraft secure sitting on echo
00:15 All passengers are back.
00:16 EOD on scene.
00:18 Fire command or off tower supervisor looking for an update on buses.
— Mike Christ Jr (@MChrist6919) April 18, 2026
There were no reported injuries. The incident is still officially phrased as a security issue and not an actual bomb threat.
Glad everyone is okay. That’s no joke.
@O’Hare Is My Second Home — You weren’t coming to visit this weekend, right? You’re always welcome, fine Illinois brethren. We’ve had beautiful spring conditions this past week, too.
The FAA and all agencies need to really start treating this problematic behavior with jail time. People will not learn and will not take these situations seriously without any consequences.
We have a situation where everyone is scared. Why don’t tell them to run and create even more panic?
@Dan — Why are you so calm. You really should be freaking out right now. DAN! RUN!! RUUNNN!!!!
Isn’t the sequential beeping a Hollywood dramatization of a bomb?
My fridge sequentially beeps if I dont close the door completely
@anon
Then you OBVIOUSLY have a BOMB in your kitchen!!! GET OUT NOW!!!!! And RUN RUN EUN!!!!
An abundance of caution but sometimes you gotta do that. I’ll ask because someone has to: Did people actually not grab their crap on this one? Overheads need to have a remote locking mechanism to keep people from trying. Once they know they can’t access their stuff, they’ll exit as directed.
What idiot would make a bomb that beeps? Presumably, bombs work best when only the bad guys know about it. Nobody is going to place a beeping bomb on anything. This sounds far more like an alarm or timer. Almost certainly perfectly innocent.
Of course, because there would be bone head passengers that would stand around clueless to the world around them. And yes there needs to be prison time for those that interfere with flight and airport operations. The word would get out real quick to the ULCC class that if you FA around in an airport or airplane you’re getting a few years upstate, or as the kids like to say FO.
@Christian — What’s your policy on pets in these circumstances? May passengers pick up their pet carrier under the seat in front of them, then proceed to the nearest exit/slide? Or must the dog/cat be sacrificed for the appearance of compliance with your subject expectations of safety? Ok, fine, some people love their pets; others hate all animals. How about a baby in a carrier? It’s kind of a bag, too. Huh, a real thinker we got there. Baby is a human. Tough choices! Eh, rules are rules, better just leave it.
In all seriousness, while no one should be taking an overhead carry-on with them, maybe purses are fine; it’s really an in-the-moment decision, lots of nuance, and unless we’ve been in these situations, it’s hard to tell what we could/should/would actually do.