On a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport to San Francisco, a Virgin Atlantic pilot had to return after the outer layer of the cockpit windscreen cracked.
At a height of 40,000 feet above sea level, the damage occurred three hours into the flight as it crossed over Greenland and Iceland with an air temperature of -58 degrees centigrade. Whether it was caused by a bird strike or not still remains unknown because such birds could not fly at such high altitudes.
In brief: “The partially cracked outer layer is just one of many layers which are non-structural and abrasion resistant,” said Virgin spokesperson while explaining the composition of the windscreen. Despite these explanations, passengers were worried about possible depressurization in their cabins
To address this shortcoming, they lodged a complaint and were offered accommodation before flying to San Francisco on the following day.
In addition to other incidents, Boeing has experienced this one recently. In Oklahoma City alone two Southwest Airlines planes underwent considerable losses in altitude; one dropping less than 500 feet before landing and narrowly missing houses and another descending almost to sea level off Hawaii.
Moreover, in March, United Airlines had an external panel fall away from its Boeing 737-800 during a flight from San Francisco to Oregon. These situations have made people worry about safety and dependability of Boeing planes.
