All Nippon Airways Boeing flight to Japan turned back due to cracked cockpit window

An All Nippon Airways (ANA) domestic flight was returned to its departure airport after receiving a report that a cockpit window was cracked during the flight.

The crack appeared in the outermost of the four layers of windows surrounding the cockpit.

The person on board was not injured.

ANA flight NH1182 was flying from Sapporo, Hokkaido to Toyama, Honshu.

The plane, a Boeing 737, landed at Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport at around 12:10 p.m. local time (3:10 p.m. Japan time).

A spokesperson for ANA, Japan’s largest airline, said the crack was discovered as the plane passed over Hakodate.

“The cracks did not appear to affect flight controls or pressurization,” the spokesperson said.

The plane returned to the airport and landed safely.

Aviation expert John Strickland said the cause of the crack was still unknown.

“These things happen every once in a while. Something could have hit the window, like a bird or large hail. It’s not unheard of.”

“Wear and tear can sometimes lead to stress fractures, but that’s very rare,” he added.

He said airlines would likely need to replace the entire window, not just the damaged layer, to ensure the plane was completely safe.

“Those things do happen, but it’s impossible to quantify how often.”

There were 59 passengers and 6 crew members on board. Alternative flights were arranged for the passengers.

This is the second accident in recent weeks involving a Boeing 737 aircraft. However, the ANA flight was not a Boeing 737 MAX 9, but an earlier model that was “not old at all,” Strickland said.

Last week, the FAA, the US aviation regulator, ordered a Boeing 737-9 passenger plane to be operated by the FAA after an Alaska Airlines jet exploded mid-air when a cabin panel of the new jet fell off, leaving a large hole in the side of the fuselage. All flights were suspended. .

The plane, carrying 177 passengers and crew, had to make an emergency landing in Oregon, USA.

On Friday, the FAA announced it would indefinitely extend the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX 9 aircraft for further safety inspections and increase oversight of Boeing itself.

The FAA said 171 aircraft with the same configuration as the one involved in the incident had to be grounded “for the safety of American travelers.”