United Airlines flight diverted after passenger ‘attempted to breach cockpit’

2 min readUpdated: May 30, 2026 03:35 PM IST

A United Airlines flight travelling from Chicago to Minneapolis was diverted to Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday night due to a “security concern” involving an unruly passenger, says CBS News.

There were no reported injuries among the 147 passengers and six crew members on board.

The Boeing 737 aircraft took off from Chicago O’Hare International Airport at 8.02 pm local time and landed at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison at 9.29 pm, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

According to air traffic control audio, one of the pilots told controllers that law enforcement officers on board had arrested “an unruly passenger” during the flight.

Signal for a hijacking

Metro reported that flight attendants used the emergency transponder code “7500”, which is commonly associated with unlawful interference or possible hijacking situations.

An FBI Milwaukee spokesperson said the agency was notified of the flight’s diversion. Its Madison office and local law enforcement responded to the airport, reported NBC.

A Dane County Sheriff’s Office official confirmed that the plane requested law enforcement assistance.

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“A subject was detained by the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and afterwards passengers resumed their flight,” NBC quoted the FBI spokesperson as saying.

The report added that it has obtained Air traffic control audio capturing a discussion between ground and flight personnel when law enforcement attended the incident.

“I do not believe they ever cuffed him, but they were able to finally get control of him after multiple attempts to try to breach the cockpit,” a crew member can be heard saying.

The flight continued its journey to Minneapolis, landing early Saturday morning, according to FlightAware data.

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