The name of a Bluetooth signal forced a flight to divert route and return to its origin airport in the United States. The case occurred on Saturday night (30), on a route operated by United Airlines, which departed from Newark to Palma de Mallorca, in Spain.
Passengers on flight UA236 reported on social media that the crew repeatedly asked everyone to turn off Bluetooth on cell phones and accessories. According to one of the reports, a final one-minute warning was made stating that two devices still remained active. A flight attendant mentioned that a prank would be harming all passengers.
An archived recording from air traffic control, cited by the website The Verge, indicates that the source of the problem was the name of a Bluetooth speaker that was visible to other devices.
In the recording, the operator states: “There is a security team in place. Someone had a Bluetooth speaker and named it with a certain four-letter word. Therefore, the entire aircraft will need to be inspected, including the hold, and passengers will have to disembark.”
The recording does not confirm what the name of the device was. Specialized websites raised the hypothesis that the device would have been called a “bomb”, but there is no official confirmation about this. The procedure mentioned in the audio involves the complete inspection of the aircraft and the disembarkation of passengers.
