An unlucky string of events left a United Airlines flight from Newark to Hong Kong stranded on a frozen Canadian tarmac for more than 15 hours as passengers awaited a rescue plane.
United Flight 179 departed Newark Liberty International on time Saturday afternoon, according to flight logs, but landed shortly over five hours later at Goose Bay Airport, a Canadian Forces base in Newfoundland. The airport is a popular refueling spot for private jets headed across the Atlantic and receives multiple emergency landings every month as a result of its location.
But once on the ground in Canada where temperatures hit as low as negative 10 degrees over the weekend the flight crew struggled to re-close an emergency exit door that had been used to evacuate the passenger in need of medical attention. Whats more, a lack of overnight border agents meant that passengers were stuck on the Boeing 777 overnight until they could de-plane.