Cargo Door Issue Forces American Airlines Flight to Return to Raleigh-Durham Less Than One Hour After Departure

An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) on March 11. Flight AA 802 departed RDU for Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) at 6:53 a.m. local time. AA 802 was operated by a ten-year-old Airbus A321-200, with registration N567UW. After taking off from RDU, the flight crew became concerned with an issue involving the cargo door and returned to RDU after approximately 15 minutes. The flight did not declare an emergency.

The aircraft landed without further incident. The aircraft involved was delivered new to U.S Airways on August 9, 2013. N567UW joined American Airlines' fleet after merging with U.S. Airways in 2015, retaining the registration number. The aircraft was not involved in any major incidents or accidents until now. It is reported that the cargo door had no issues, while the problem was that a light source was not working properly.

AeroXplorer reached out to American Airlines for an official statement.

AA 802 is the seventh major incident involving a U.S. carrier in March. The other incidents are the following:

• Alaska Airlines flight AS 1437 landed with its cargo door open on March 1.
• United flight UA 1118 had its engine burst into flames while taking off on March 6.
• United flight UA 35 experienced a tire loss while taking off from San Francisco on March 7.
• United flight UA 2477 veered off the runway after landing in Houston on the morning of March 8.
• United flight UA 821 diverted to LAX after experiencing a hydraulic failure on the evening of March 8.
• United flight UA 2137 returned to Chicago O'Hare due to a possible warning light issue on March 9.