United flight from Orlando declares emergency and diverts to Jacksonville

A United Airlines flight from Orlando International Airport declared an in-flight emergency on Friday about half an hour after departure, according to an account of the incident.

United Flight UA2746, a Boeing 737-900ER registered N66831, left Orlando at 12:51 UTC bound for Washington, D.C. Scheduled flight time was about three hours.

Roughly 30 minutes in, the crew set the transponder to Squawk 7700. That code signals an emergency on board and tells air traffic control the aircraft needs priority handling. The crew stopped climbing at 22,000 feet.

Squawk 7700 covers a range of problems: mechanical irregularities, pressurisation anomalies, medical events. Pilots dealing with pressurisation concerns or running technical checks usually level off at a lower altitude.

At 13:29 UTC the crew was reporting an engine issue. Ten minutes later, at 13:39 UTC, the flight was diverting to Jacksonville. The account described the situation as developing, with further details to follow.