A Delta Air Lines flight bound for China was forced to take a 2,000-mile detour and land in Los Angeles after one of its pilots fell ill — adding eight hours to the passengers’ journey.
Delta Air Lines Flight 389 took off from Detroit around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, due in Shanghai 16 hours later.
But the Airbus A350-900 was thrown completely off course when a pilot got sick.
The plane, five hours into the trip, was just south of Alaska when the crew decided to divert to Delta’s hub in Los Angeles — a three-hour flight south and west.
Delta Air Lines Flight 389 faced a major detour after one of its pilots got sick mid-flight, forcing the Shanghai-bound plane to land in Los Angeles. Flightaware
While Los Angeles isn’t the closest airport, its service as a key station in the West Coast