CHICAGO – An ********** slide inflated inside a United Airlines plane as it flew from Chicago to California, filling part of the cabin and forcing the pilot to make an ********* landing in Kansas, the ******* and passengers said.

Mike Schroeder said he was flying to Orange County, California, late Sunday when he heard a hiss and pop. Schroeder said he turned around and saw the plane’s ********** slide – which would normally go outside the plane during an ********* – inflating inside the cabin.

United Airlines officials said in a statement Monday that no one aboard Flight 1463 was *******.

Passengers remained calm and took pictures of the inflated slide with their phones, Schroeder said. The **********-700 pilot announced to passengers that they would be landing at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport.

“When the pilot came out right after landing he said, ‘Oh golly, I’ve never seen that before,”’ Schroeder said.

Christen David, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based *******, said the slide “accidentally deployed” and that all 96 passengers were seated when the slide inflated. The ******* provided passengers hotel rooms and planned a flight Monday morning from Wichita to California.

United’s maintenance team will inspect the aircraft to find out what happened, David said.

Elizabeth Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said agency investigators were at the scene in Wichita, but that the ************* would take weeks. She did not have further information.