BY KAREN BOSSICK
Passengers aboard a United Airlines flight traveling from Sun Valley to San Francisco on Saturday had a more circuitous flight than they would have liked after the plane had to make an emergency landing due to an unstable windshield.
The flight that left Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey at 3:40 p.m. Saturday, March 4, was supposed to be a direct flight and was over northern Nevada when the problem was discovered. But it circled back to Twin Falls since it was closer to Twin Falls than Reno at the time. The plane landed at Twin Falls just before 5 p.m.
“We were told to be prepared to assume the brace position as we landed—scary,” said Ketchum gallery owner Gail Severn, who was among the passengers.
The Twin Falls Airport was not open at the time, as it has only one daily flight Sunday through Saturday. But emergency vehicles lined the runway in case something happened.
Airline workers got everyone off into the plane and into the closed terminal where passengers waited under a rescue plane arrived from Salt Lake City to collect them and take them to San Francisco.