US Airways plane makes emergency landing

A loud noise prompted the pilot of an US Airways jetliner to return to the Charlotte, N.C., airport Sunday afternoon, officials said. The flight, with 44 passengers and three crew members aboard, made the emergency landing safely with no injuries about 3:32 p.m., a little more than an hour after it had taken off from Charlotte, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, reported. A US Airways spokeswoman said the plane's crew heard a "loud and unsettling noise," and turned the aircraft around as a precaution, The Charlotte Observer reported. The newspaper said the plane had been bound for Charleston, W.Va., while the TV station said its destination was Atlanta. The airline's mechanics were inspecting the plane to determine what may have caused the noise and the passengers were placed on difference flights to continue their journeys.