Incident Occurred Near O'Hare International Airport

A United Airlines Boeing 737 en route to Chicago O'Hare International Airport from Vancouver in Canada on Monday reportedly had to take evasive action to avoid colliding with a glider near the destination airport.

The CBC reports that the FAA said in an emailed statement that the captain of United Flight 246 reported seeing the glider near Rockford, IL. The Boeing climbed 400 feet to avoid hitting the sailplane, according to the email.

The pilot also reportedly took other evasive action to avoid the collision. Passenger Callum Snape said plane entered a steep right bank without warning to the passengers. ""No one screamed, but it was enough that many people grabbed their seats and their armrests. I couldn't see what was happening, but I knew that it was out of the ordinary," he said.

Obviously, the image captured from the website Flight Radar shows in initial left turn at the Wisconsin-Illinois border. In Twitter comments, Snape said that his reference to a right turn was the second turn in the flight path. A tight loop to the right is shown just north of Rockford, IL.

The FAA said that the incident is under investigation.

(Image from Flight Radar)

FMI: Original Story, www.faa.gov