United Airlines flight 839 from Los Angeles landed safely in Sydney, Australia today after the pilot issued a ‘Fuel Mayday’, officials said. The aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, landed safely at Sydney International Airport. The plane reported a mechanical issue, and stronger than anticipated headwinds than contributed to the flight getting down to its fuel reserve.
The aircraft was carrying 180 passengers and a crew of 14. Once an aircraft gets down to its fuel reserve in flight, it’s required to declare a “fuel mayday”. This alerts local air traffic control to issue the plane a “priority landing”, putting it ahead of other aircraft that are on approach.
