Originally published April 4, 2011 at 9:35 PM | Page modified April 4, 2011 at 9:39 PM

Airbus returns to Louisiana airport

First there was a report of smoke in the cockpit shortly after the Monday-morning takeoff. Then the pilot of United Airlines Flight 497 from New Orleans to San Francisco reported instruments had stopped working, even as he requested a runway for his return.

By MARY FOSTER

The Associated Press

KENNER, La. — First there was a report of smoke in the cockpit shortly after the Monday-morning takeoff.

Then the pilot of United Airlines Flight 497 from New Orleans to San Francisco reported instruments had stopped working, even as he requested a runway for his return.

Less than 13 minutes after its departure, the Airbus 320 landed safely with all 100 passengers and five crew of Flight 497 at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said.

Co-pilot Ronald Lee Young told an Associated Press reporter aboard that he landed on backup systems, with minimal steering and braking, after the plane lost all electronics.

Immediately after the landing, flight attendants shouted, "Leave everything. Get out!" Passengers slid down the front and back inflatable slides.

Also

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from Oakland, Calif., to San Diego carrying 142 people diverted to Los Angeles on Sunday because of a burning electrical smell in the passenger cabin when the pilot made an unscheduled landing at Los Angeles International Airport about 8 p.m. PDT after reporting a mechanical problem, airport spokesman Harold Johnson said. The passengers continued to San Diego on another plane.

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