59 ms·

UA flight – 'turn Bluetooth off or we're turning around'

88 points by slackpad 4mo ago

bigyabai 4mo ago
They certainly did turn around: https://www.flightradar24.com/UAL236/ https://www.flightradar24.com/UAL236/
- LoganDark 4mo ago
  > Live flight not found > Sorry, but we couldn't find data about this flight. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua236 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua236
- bombcar 4mo ago
  According to the thead they squawked 7700 so this wasn’t just a “fuck it we’re going back” this was a full blown “we’re declaring emergency, roll all the shit.” I wonder if there’s Bluetooth interference or if they’re suspicious of something else.
  - bigfatkitten 4mo ago
    > I wonder if there’s Bluetooth interference This would be both extremely unlikely, and absolutely impossible for the crew to diagnose in flight.
  - LoganDark 4mo ago
    It was a Bluetooth speaker named "bomb" in the cargo. Really stupid shit on the part of whichever passenger owned it. Even in general, you don't just leave devices powered on in your luggage, but especially not if they are called "bomb".
    - Wowfunhappy 4mo ago
      Well, the passenger was reportedly a 16 year old. They are not generally known for being the most intelligent.
      - deleted 4mo ago
        [deleted]
      - bombcar 4mo ago
        Hey! When I was 16 I was the smartest to ever live! Apparently something happened afterwards …
        mejthemage 4mo ago
        Lol username checks out?
        LoganDark 4mo ago
        How do you know everyone else wasn't just dumb instead? I know I feel that way sometimes.
aftbit 4mo ago
>LolasLakehouse >43 points 33 minutes ago >Heard on ramp frequency. United appeared to tell the captain of a different United flight that there was a Bluetooth device with a “certain four letter word” (quoting) on the plane causing the emergency.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
Someone was airdropping bomb threats?
legitster 4mo ago
My guess is a device was named "Bomb" or something.
- glaslong 4mo ago
  i like to make my hostname "virus" because it gets me a surprising number of check-in pings from network admins
  - cookiengineer 4mo ago
    I like to do that more subtly. If I want to have IT check on an ongoing engagement, I usually use Raspberry Pi based OUI/MAC addresses. Other than that, I can recommend going for IoT devices like VOIP phone MAC addresses in conference rooms, because they're specifically allowlisted for everything and/or are in a different VLAN that doesn't block the endpoints. Enterprise-grade security is always fun :D
anonym00se1 4mo ago
"Wife is on the plane. Guy had a speaker named bomb. He just confessed to it. He said he named it forever ago and forgot about it. He’s 16 years old. Wife’s friend is sitting next to him as they are questioning him."
- netsharc 4mo ago
  Man, looking forward to hear the phrase of "out of abundance of caution". What a fucking stupid overdose of caution and CYA. Would an actual bomber actually name their device "Bomb"? Chances are, not. Is the broadcast a "bomb threat"? If so, does it disappear if the device is switched off? And if the continued broadcast is perceived to be an active threat, and it persisted even after they turned around, at what point do you say "Well, we haven't joined MH-17, might as well do another 180 and resume our flight"? If the device was named "turn around or bomb", I'd be more convinced we have a situation. God, I hate this world run by 5th graders.
  - ai_slop_hater 4mo ago
    Do real bombs have bluetooth?
    - gizmo686 4mo ago
      The type of bomb people worry about for airplanes typically are not built to code. They do need to have some form of dedinator, and tying that detonator to a Bluetooth control seems like a design that someone might come up with.
      - frumiousirc 4mo ago
        > They do need to have some form of dedinator And some dedotaded wam.
      - ai_slop_hater 4mo ago
        > They do need to have some form of dedinator, and tying that detonator to a Bluetooth control seems like a design that someone might come up with. So much doesn't make sense to me. First, if for whatever reason you decided to blow up an airplane, why would you need to wait for so long, that the plane can turn around and land? Why not blow the airplane as soon as all passengers are on board, or at least when the plane is high enough in the air that when it is blown up, no body can survive the fall? It also doesn't make sense to use a Bluetooth detonator, because Bluetooth only works at short range, i.e. the detonator would have to also be on the same plane as the bomb. If you are ok with blowing yourself up as well, why not directly detonate the bomb without a remote detonator?
gizmo686 4mo ago
From u/cupofmesideofyou > For anyone seeking a legitimate source on the bluetooth device comments: you can listen to the KEWR Ramp/Company/Misc archive. Keep the date set to 2026-05-31 and the feed set to ramp/company/misc, but change the time to 0200-0230Z. Then, skip ahead to about 22:55 https://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=kewr_co https://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=kewr_co From ATC > Do you guys know what happened with that - uh what is that a - 7-6 on the left? > There's a security detail out there. Someone had a bluetooth they named a certain four letter word; so they have to inspect the whole aircraft including the cargo area. The passengers have to evacuate. > That's crazy
blitzar 4mo ago
Wild they go back to a major city & major airport when there "might be a bomb". Does the US not have designated airports for bomb threats / hijacks with tooled up special forces etc?

88 points by slackpad 4mo ago

bigyabai 4mo ago

They certainly did turn around: https://www.flightradar24.com/UAL236/ https://www.flightradar24.com/UAL236/

LoganDark 4mo ago
> Live flight not found > Sorry, but we couldn't find data about this flight. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua236 https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ua236
bombcar 4mo ago
According to the thead they squawked 7700 so this wasn’t just a “fuck it we’re going back” this was a full blown “we’re declaring emergency, roll all the shit.” I wonder if there’s Bluetooth interference or if they’re suspicious of something else.
- bigfatkitten 4mo ago
  > I wonder if there’s Bluetooth interference This would be both extremely unlikely, and absolutely impossible for the crew to diagnose in flight.
- LoganDark 4mo ago
  It was a Bluetooth speaker named "bomb" in the cargo. Really stupid shit on the part of whichever passenger owned it. Even in general, you don't just leave devices powered on in your luggage, but especially not if they are called "bomb".
  - Wowfunhappy 4mo ago
    Well, the passenger was reportedly a 16 year old. They are not generally known for being the most intelligent.
    - deleted 4mo ago
      [deleted]
    - bombcar 4mo ago
      Hey! When I was 16 I was the smartest to ever live! Apparently something happened afterwards …
      - mejthemage 4mo ago
        Lol username checks out?
      - LoganDark 4mo ago
        How do you know everyone else wasn't just dumb instead? I know I feel that way sometimes.

aftbit 4mo ago

>LolasLakehouse >43 points 33 minutes ago >Heard on ramp frequency. United appeared to tell the captain of a different United flight that there was a Bluetooth device with a “certain four letter word” (quoting) on the plane causing the emergency.

deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

JumpCrisscross 4mo ago

Someone was airdropping bomb threats?

legitster 4mo ago

My guess is a device was named "Bomb" or something.

glaslong 4mo ago
i like to make my hostname "virus" because it gets me a surprising number of check-in pings from network admins
- cookiengineer 4mo ago
  I like to do that more subtly. If I want to have IT check on an ongoing engagement, I usually use Raspberry Pi based OUI/MAC addresses. Other than that, I can recommend going for IoT devices like VOIP phone MAC addresses in conference rooms, because they're specifically allowlisted for everything and/or are in a different VLAN that doesn't block the endpoints. Enterprise-grade security is always fun :D

anonym00se1 4mo ago

"Wife is on the plane. Guy had a speaker named bomb. He just confessed to it. He said he named it forever ago and forgot about it. He’s 16 years old. Wife’s friend is sitting next to him as they are questioning him."

netsharc 4mo ago
Man, looking forward to hear the phrase of "out of abundance of caution". What a fucking stupid overdose of caution and CYA. Would an actual bomber actually name their device "Bomb"? Chances are, not. Is the broadcast a "bomb threat"? If so, does it disappear if the device is switched off? And if the continued broadcast is perceived to be an active threat, and it persisted even after they turned around, at what point do you say "Well, we haven't joined MH-17, might as well do another 180 and resume our flight"? If the device was named "turn around or bomb", I'd be more convinced we have a situation. God, I hate this world run by 5th graders.
- ai_slop_hater 4mo ago
  Do real bombs have bluetooth?
  - gizmo686 4mo ago
    The type of bomb people worry about for airplanes typically are not built to code. They do need to have some form of dedinator, and tying that detonator to a Bluetooth control seems like a design that someone might come up with.
    - frumiousirc 4mo ago
      > They do need to have some form of dedinator And some dedotaded wam.
    - ai_slop_hater 4mo ago
      > They do need to have some form of dedinator, and tying that detonator to a Bluetooth control seems like a design that someone might come up with. So much doesn't make sense to me. First, if for whatever reason you decided to blow up an airplane, why would you need to wait for so long, that the plane can turn around and land? Why not blow the airplane as soon as all passengers are on board, or at least when the plane is high enough in the air that when it is blown up, no body can survive the fall? It also doesn't make sense to use a Bluetooth detonator, because Bluetooth only works at short range, i.e. the detonator would have to also be on the same plane as the bomb. If you are ok with blowing yourself up as well, why not directly detonate the bomb without a remote detonator?

gizmo686 4mo ago

From u/cupofmesideofyou > For anyone seeking a legitimate source on the bluetooth device comments: you can listen to the KEWR Ramp/Company/Misc archive. Keep the date set to 2026-05-31 and the feed set to ramp/company/misc, but change the time to 0200-0230Z. Then, skip ahead to about 22:55 https://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=kewr_co https://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=kewr_co From ATC > Do you guys know what happened with that - uh what is that a - 7-6 on the left? > There's a security detail out there. Someone had a bluetooth they named a certain four letter word; so they have to inspect the whole aircraft including the cargo area. The passengers have to evacuate. > That's crazy

blitzar 4mo ago

Wild they go back to a major city & major airport when there "might be a bomb". Does the US not have designated airports for bomb threats / hijacks with tooled up special forces etc?