The UA888 flight of the United Airlines (UA) returned to Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) after hovering about two hours in the sky, due to landing gear problem. No casualties were reported.

The flight took off at 12 a.m. and landed again at the airport at 14:10 p.m. The crew members found the problem about one hour after the take-off and soon informed the 281 passengers on board.

UA arranged another aircraft to fly to San Francisco at 5:20 p.m. after loading all passengers and baggage.

United Airlines (UA) of the United States launched the daily direct flight between Beijing and San Francisco in 2004.

Flight UA888 undertaken by Boeing 777-200 normally departs from Beijing at 12:00 a.m. (Beijing Time) and is due to arrive in San Francisco at 8:35 a.m. local time the next day.