Airliner diverted after emergency chute opens in flight

A United Airlines flight en route from Chicago to California with 101 passengers aboard made an unscheduled stop late Sunday in Kansas after the Boeing 737's emergency evacuation chute accidentally opened.

Public safety personnel at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport said the slide deployed in the cabin of Flight 1463, KAKE-TV reports. The plane, which was flying from Chicago's O'Hare airport to the John Wayne Airport near Los Angeles, landed at Wichita airport around 10:30 p.m.

Among the passengers was former Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez and a member of the U.S. national volleyball team, KAKE reports.

A statement from the airlines said there were no injuries and the plane flight landed safely, ABC News reports.

It was not immediately clear what caused the chute, located at the back of the plane, to open.

Michael Schroeder said he and fellow passengers were alerted by a "kind of loud pop and hissing noise" from the back of the plane when the chute opened, The Wichita Eagle reports. Schroeder said there was no one near it at the time.

He added that everyone remained calm and began taking pictures with their cellphones.

KAKE notes that there have been previous cases in which a flight was diverted after a slide deployed.

A similar incident forced a JetBlue plan to divert in 2013, and a campaign plane carrying then-Sen. Barack Obama had to make an emergency stop when a chute opened in 2008.