United Express UA6153 Is Evacuated at Houston Bush After Smoke Fills the Cabin During Taxi

United Express flight UA6153 was evacuated at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental on the morning of Saturday, October 24, 2026, after smoke filled the cabin as the jet taxied out for Atlanta. The Houston Fire Department said the smoke was put out and the aircraft was declared “fire safe.”

The flight is operated by Mesa Airlines as United Express, United told local station KPRC 2. Whether anyone was hurt, and what caused the smoke, had not been confirmed when the first reports came out.

What we know about UA6153

UA6153 was scheduled to leave Terminal E at 7:20 a.m. for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta. A passenger told KPRC 2 that the cabin started to fill with smoke while the aircraft was taxiing for takeoff.

The station reported, citing authorities, that the smoke prompted an emergency evacuation of the aircraft. How the passengers left the jet, whether by slides or by stairs, has not been reported.

The Houston Fire Department confirmed that multiple units responded on Saturday morning. Flight-tracking information from the Houston Airport System listed the flight as diverted at IAH.

FlightAware lists the flight, operating as Mesa 6153, as an Embraer E175 that pushed back from Gate E22. The same type has flown the route on each of the flight’s earlier October dates in FlightAware’s history. The tail number of the jet involved has not been published.

KPRC said it had asked Mesa and the Houston Airport System for more information. At the time of writing, AeroCorner had found no public statement from either, or from the FAA.

Why smoke on the ground means getting out

Smoke in flight usually means getting the jet on the ground as soon as possible. Smoke while taxiing is different: the aircraft is already on the ground, and the crew can choose between returning to a gate and evacuating where it stands.

Airliners are designed for that moment. For any jet with more than 44 seats, FAA certification rules require a full-capacity evacuation to the ground within 90 seconds, demonstrated under simulated emergency conditions.

Real evacuations rarely look like the test. Houston saw that on February 2, 2025, when United flight 1382, an Airbus A319 bound for New York, rejected its takeoff after a right engine failure.

The NTSB found that no fire was confirmed, but someone in the cabin shouted that there was one. Passengers stood up, grabbed bags and pushed toward the exits, and a rear slide deployed into the exhaust of the still-running engine and failed, FOX 26 reported from the board’s findings. All 112 people on board got out without injury.

That event is separate from Saturday’s and involved a different operator and aircraft type. The NTSB’s findings show how much can go wrong in the first minutes of a ground evacuation.

It is not the only ground evacuation of a regional jet this month. On October 17, American Eagle AA5089 was evacuated on the runway at St. Louis after its pilot reported fumes in the cockpit.

Mesa’s second Houston event in a month

Mesa flies regional routes for United from hubs including Houston. Its E175 on United Express UA6309 turned back to Bush Intercontinental on September 27 after the first officer’s windshield shattered shortly after takeoff for El Paso.

Mesa merged with Republic Airways on November 25, 2025. Republic said Mesa signed a new 10-year contract to fly for United as part of the deal, and that the two airlines would run in parallel until they are consolidated into one carrier.

The combined company describes itself as the owner of the world’s largest Embraer jet fleet, 310 E-Jets flying more than 1,300 daily departures.