Watch: Passengers Evacuate Smoke-Filled United Aircraft By Slide

Around 1 p.m. Eastern this afternoon a United Express flight UA6122 experienced smoke in the cabin while taxiing for departure to Houston. The Mesa-operated Embraer regional jet stopped and crew deploy a slide.

Here’s video of the incident:

Emergency crew were called to respond. Passengers evacuated the aircraft and returned to the gate. Here’s the regional jet with slide deployed:

Media are reporting an airport authority statement that the aircraft was an ERJ-170, while I believe it was a -175. Mesa Airlines appears to be ferrying another ERJ-175 over from Washington Dulles as United flight UA3232 to take passengers on to Houston.

The only thing really surprising about this incident I suppose is that 6 of United’s 8 peak daily departures from Washington National to its Houston hub are operated by regional jets. The airline is growing its domestic operation precisely to attract customers with bigger aircraft that offer improved unit economics. Just not in and out of congested National airport it seems.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. How is the zodiac killer supposed to fit into a tiny regional jets when he flies back to Texas? Shameful indeed.

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