Southwest Airlines plagued by new window scare
A cracked window has forced a Southwest Airline passenger jet to land after a similar incident left a woman dead just two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, the flight travelling to New Jersey made an emergency landing due to a broken passenger window, with the airline downplaying the situation as a “maintenance” issue.
Flight No. 957 departed from Chicago and was diverted to Cleveland, Ohio, two hours after taking off.
Officials revealed that the plane landed safely at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and no one was injured.
A Southwest spokeswoman said the decision was made to divert the plane “for maintenance review of one of the multiple layers of a window pane”, reported the New York Times.
“The flight landed uneventfully in Cleveland,” she said.
“The aircraft has been taken out of service for maintenance review, and our local Cleveland Employees are working diligently to accommodate the 76 customers on a new aircraft to Newark.”
In a following statement, the airline reassured that technically no emergency landing was made as the cabin maintained pressure “as there are multiple layers of panes in each window”.
Breaking News: @mickychinn just sent me this picture of (another!)blown out outer-window on his @SouthwestAir Flight 957 from Midway to Newark. Plane just emergency-landed into Cleveland. #Southwest, what is going on? Everyone seems safe and unhurt. Kudos to the pilots and staff! pic.twitter.com/dszdee3NBU
— Eliott Wolbrom (@ewolbrom) May 2, 2018
The 76 passengers onboard the flight were instructed to grab their belongings and catch another flight.
“We’re going to walk you right onto the plane next door and we’re going to let you [be] taken care of,” the airline staff told them in a video posted on Twitter.
Passenger Alejandro Aguina said the crack was located on the “outside”.
“On my way to NJ for work and #Southwest957 gets a window crack. Only outside crack so we’re all safe,” he tweeted.
“On our way to NJ in new plane. Thanks to the @SouthwestAir crew and pilots for handling it professionally.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said it’s investigating the incident.
“Southwest Airlines Flight 957, a Boeing 737 flying from Chicago Midway Airport to Newark Airport, requested to divert to Cleveland Hopkins Airport due to a broken passenger window,” spokesman Tony Molinaro said.
“The aircraft landed without incident at Cleveland.”
The incident follows the death of a woman after she was nearly sucked out of a Southwest flight when an engine exploded mid-air, causing shrapnel to shatter the plane’s window.
On April 17, mother-of-two Jennifer Riordan was killed while flying from New York to Dallas.