A plane flying from London to Orlando, Florida, last month had to turn around because some window panels were missing or damaged, startling passengers who reported hearing rumbling sounds inside the cabin, authorities said.
The plane, an Airbus A321, had four damaged window panes, including two completely missing, as it took off from London Stansted Airport in October. 4, According to a report It was published by the British Air Accident Investigation Branch last week.
The authorities said that there were no casualties on board the plane, which was carrying 11 crew members and nine passengers who were seated in the middle of the plane, all of whom were employees of “a tourism company or the plane operating company.”
The names of the companies were not included in the report.
After take-off, some passengers noticed that “the plane’s cabin seemed noisier and colder than they were accustomed to,” according to the report. A person walking toward the back of the plane noticed a loud noise and saw that the window seal was flapping and that the window glass appeared to have slid down.
This passenger described the cabin noise to the investigator as “loud enough to damage your hearing,” the report states.
The cabin crew were informed and, after further inspection of the window, they agreed to return the aircraft to Stansted Airport.
Investigators said the plane remained at normal pressure throughout the 36-minute flight.
Once the plane landed, crew members found the glass of the other three damaged windows.
The day before the flight, the plane was used for filming on the ground, and external lights were shone on it for more than five hours “to give the illusion of sunrise,” the report said.
But authorities said the hot lights caused thermal damage and distortion to the windows.
Although the incident ended “quietly,” a more serious level of damage “may lead to more serious consequences, particularly if window integrity is lost at high differential pressure,” the report warned.
In 2018, a person was killed on a Southwest Airlines flight from New York to Dallas when an engine exploded in midair, shattering a window and causing a woman to be partially pulled from the plane, resulting in fatal injuries.
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