The black streak continues for the manufacturer Boeing. A Virgin Atlantic flight to San Francisco was forced to turn back when the windshield of the Boeing 787-9 cracked in mid-flight. The incident, which occurred at an altitude of about 40,000 feet (about 12 km) between Greenland and Iceland, has, according to the New York Postterrified the crew and passengers. According to the company, the damage affected “the outer layer of the cockpit windshield,” a “non-structural, but wear-resistant” part.
Worried passengers
The plane took off on May 26 from Heathrow Airport in London. Three hours later, the crack appeared in the “multi-layer” glass of the windshield. The crew immediately decided to return to the English capital to avoid any risk. For the time being, the causes of the incident are not known.
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In addition, the crew on board had to reassure worried passengers, some of whom feared a depressurization of the cabin. Photos of the incident, relayed by The Sun in recent days, clearly show the crack on the windshield. After a night in London, the travelers finally resumed their journey to San Francisco the next day.
Repeated incidents
This incident is not an isolated case for Boeing. Last May, a Southwest Airlines plane skimmed the Pacific Ocean at just 400 feet, en route to Hawaii. In March, a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 lost an external panel on a flight from San Francisco to Oregon.
More recently, a KLM Boeing 777 was forced to turn back to Amsterdam after a technical problem, and 17 passengers on a Korean Air flight were injured in an incident on a Boeing 737-8. Finally, an Air Europa plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Monday in Natal, Brazil, after severe turbulence left around 40 people injured.
