By Marlene Lenthang and Jay Blackman -
NBC News
A United Airlines plane that had taken off from New Jersey to Brazil on Wednesday ended up circling over the Atlantic Ocean for almost two hours and made an emergency landing due to a mechanical problem, according to air authorities.
Flight 149 left Newark airport at 11 pm (East Coast time) bound for São Paulo with 256 passengers.
[A plane flying to Los Angeles makes an emergency landing in Mexico due to an engine incident shortly after takeoff]
But the plane suffered a "mechanical problem shortly after takeoff," United Airlines said in a statement, explaining that an initial inspection points to a problem with the hydraulic pump.
"It remained in the air to burn fuel and then landed safely," the airline stated, "Passengers have disembarked and a new plane was scheduled to depart in the morning."
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A flight history map shows the aircraft circled several times over the ocean off the New Jersey coast before landing in Newark at 1 a.m. Thursday.
The plane, a Boeing 777-200, landed after the crew reported an "emergency," the Federal Aviation Administration said, saying it is conducting an investigation.
