Summary
- American Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Boston because of cracked windshield over the Atlantic.
- Maintenance issue caused the Boeing 777 to divert, but passengers were supplied with accommodations.
- Cracked windshields are common in business aviation and may result in emergency landings if severe.
An American Airlines flight was forced to show back over the Atlantic Ocean after it suffered a cracked windshield. The aircraft, a Boeing 777 originating from Recent York en path to Madrid, landed in Boston safely and has since been returned to service.
American 777 windshield incident over Atlantic
The Boeing 777-200ER (registration: N790AN) was operating American Airlines Flight 94 from Recent York JFK (JFK) to Madrid Airport (MAD) on February twenty eighth when it diverted to Boston Logan (BOS) because of a cracked windshield. Data from Flightradar24 shows the flight took off from JFK at 19:55 local time and headed eastbound over the Atlantic Ocean to its destination in Spain. Nevertheless, lower than an hour into the journey, the flight crew declared an Alert 2 emergency, which, under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines, signifies “major difficulties.”
Photo: Flightradar24
The aircraft was at FL370 when it declared an emergency before initiating a turnaround over the Atlantic – the flight descended to FL250 and landed safely in Boston at 22:04.
An American Airlines statement said,
Maintenance issue
An American Airlines spokesperson added that the diversion happened because of a “maintenance issue” and that the aircraft can be faraway from service for a right away inspection. The carrier has since returned the affected aircraft to service after around 38 hours on the bottom – N790AN was repositioned to Charlotte (CLT) on March 1st before operating Flight AA716 to Munich (MUC) later that day.
Photo: Santi Rodriguez | Shutterstock
The carrier didn’t provide further details on what number of passengers were onboard the aircraft. These passengers would need to wait one other 19 hours for a alternative flight, which departed Boston at around 16:00 the subsequent day. American provided passengers onboard the flight with hotel accommodations and meal vouchers, as per passenger rights regulations.
Cracked windshields
Cracked windshields occur more often than you’d think within the business aviation industry, happening on almost a weekly basis. In some cases, pilots determine that their aircraft remains to be fit to proceed flying if the damage doesn’t appear extensive, as happened on a Norse Atlantic flight from Orlando to London in January.
Photo: Greg K__ca | Shutterstock
Nevertheless, the difficulty will often necessitate an emergency landing, particularly if the damage looks to have penetrated through the outer windshield layer. Easy Flying has previously explored the query of how dangerous cracked windshields are, noting that modern windshields are designed to resist strikes.
![Airbus A350 Windshield Mask](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/shutterstock_1193944717.jpg)
How Dangerous Are Cracks In Aircraft Windshields?
Cracked windshields on aircraft are far more common than frequent travelers realize.
Nevertheless, there have been some high-profile cases involving windshield malfunctions in recent times – most notably, Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633, when one among the pilots was partially sucked out of the cockpit.
What’s the longest delay you might have ever experienced because of a diversion? Tell us your stories within the comment section.