A Boeing 737-800 in Japan carrying 59 passengers and six crew members was forced to turn back mid-flight after a crack developed in the cockpit window.
The plane, with Japan’s All Nippon Airway, was headed to Toyama airport but was forced to return to Sapporo-New Chitose airport after the crack was discovered. The crack was found in the most outward of four cockpit windows, Reuters reported. The accident comes as airlines face increased scrutiny over safety concerns amid an uptick in crashes and airplane malfunctions.
“The crack was not something that affected the flight’s control or pressurization,” an airline spokesperson said.
Aviation expert John Strickland said the crack may have been caused by the plane hitting a bird or also could have been a stress fracture.
“These things do sometimes happen, something may have struck the window, for example a bird, a large hailstone, it’s not unheard of,” he told the BBC. “You might occasionally get a stress fracture too, from wear and tear.”
The incident comes less than two weeks after a fiery plane crash in Japan and amid widespread airplane safety concerns in the United States. In Japan, a passenger plane carrying nearly 400 people burst into flames after a suspected collision with a Japanese Coast Guard plane in Tokyo.
Remarkably, all 379 passengers and crew onboard the passenger plane were able to evacuate safely as the plane burned, but five of the six passengers onboard the Coast Guard plane died as a result of the crash, according to local media.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Boeing after a chunk of an Alaska Airlines plane was blown out mid flight causing an emergency depressurizing situation. The plane, a Boeing 737 Max 9 carrying more than 170 passengers, had to make an emergency landing in Oregon.
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“This incident should have never happened, and it cannot happen again,” the FAA said.
As a result, the FAA has temporarily grounded all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes and called for more stringent safety inspections. Boeing has said it will fully comply with the FAA’s investigation and will cooperate “transparently.”
“Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers,” Boeing spokeswoman Jessica Kowal said in a statement. “We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.”