American Airlines flight diverted back to Pittsburgh shortly after takeoff

An American Airlines flight to Dallas, Texas Thursday morning was diverted back to Pittsburgh shortly after takeoff.

Kylee Osselborn and Josh Plocki got to the Pittsburgh International Airport at 4:50 a.m. Thursday.

“Our first flight was from Pittsburgh to Dallas, and then we had a connecting flight from Dallas to Jackson Hole, Wyoming,” Osselborn said.

The flight took off just after a.m. About 40 minutes into their flight, they found out the plane was not enroute to Dallas — but was headed back to Pittsburgh.

“We were just circling Pittsburgh for like an hour. We didn’t know we were circling Pittsburgh for an hour. They came onto the intercom like 40 minutes into the flight and said, “This plane’s been in maintenance for the last 10 days. We thought it was okay, but we’re not able to accelerate, so we might have to return back to Pittsburgh,” Osselborn said.

According to FlightAware, the flight left Pittsburgh International, then turned back and circled the city, flew over New Kensington, up through Butler and Beaver counties, then turned back toward the city and landed at Pittsburgh International.

Data on FlightAware shows the flight never got higher than 10,000 feet in the air.

“They were like, I guess, troubleshooting, trying to see if they could figure it out in-air, basically, and whenever they didn’t get it figured out, that’s when they decided to turn it back around,” Plocki said.

Blair Steele, another passenger, reached out to Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek on Facebook saying she and her sister were on the flight Thursday morning as well.

“We were told by the pilot that a computer switch had locked the plane in a position that would not allow them to accelerate further. We were in air a minimal amount of time while they tried to trouble shoot before returning to ground and deboarding for a further safety inspection. The whole crew with American Airlines were beyond professional and clear in communication and we never felt at risk as flyers. While we are still in the airport waiting on a rerouted flight to Salt Lake, we are happy to have had a positive experience from something that could’ve been much worse.”

The plane landed in Pittsburgh before 8:30 a.m. without issue.

The passengers who spoke to Channel 11 and had a connecting flight in Dallas said American Airlines was able to rebook them on a new flight.

“We’re just trying to make the best of it!” Osselborn said.

That plane eventually did take off from Pittsburgh just before 11 a.m. and landed in Dallas Thursday afternoon without any issues.

Channel 11 reached out to American Airlines. They shared the following statement:

American Airlines flight 1845 returned safely to Pittsburgh (PIT) shortly after departure due to a possible maintenance issue. The aircraft was inspected by our maintenance team and cleared to re-depart shortly after. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and apologize for the inconvenience.

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