- By Lipika Pelham and Ruth Comerford
- BBC News
1 hour ago
Image source: Getty Images
image description,
A file photo of an All Nippon Airways Boeing 737 at New Chitose Airport, Hokkaido, Japan.
An All Nippon Airways (ANA) domestic flight in Japan has returned to its departure airport after a crack in the cockpit window was reported during the flight.
The crack occurred in the outermost of the four layers of windows surrounding the cockpit.
The incident was not serious, but if left unresolved it could have become “quite dangerous,” an aviation expert said.
There were no injuries on board.
ANA Flight NH1182 flew from the city of Sapporo in Hokkaido to Toyama on Japan's main island of Honshu.
The plane, a Boeing 737, landed back at New Chitose Airport in Sapporo at around 12:10 p.m. local time (3:10 GMT).
A spokesman for ANA, Japan's largest airline, said the crack was found as the flight flew over Hakodate.
“The tear had no impact on the control or pressure of the flight,” the spokesman said.
The aircraft flew back to the airport where a safe landing was made.
Aviation expert John Strickland said the cause of the crack was still unknown.
“Such things happen sometimes, maybe something hit the window, for example a bird, a large hailstone, that’s not uncommon.”
“Occasionally a stress fracture can occur due to wear and tear,” he added, “but this is very rare.”
He said the airline needed to replace the entire window, not just the broken layer, to ensure the plane was completely safe.
“It’s a bit like triple glazing, everything has to be intact,” he said.
“These things happen, it's impossible to quantify how frequently, but they can be quite dangerous if not addressed.”
There were 59 passengers and six crew members on board. Alternative flights have been organized for passengers.
This is the second incident involving a Boeing 737 model in as many weeks. However, the ANA flight was not one of Boeing's 737 MAX 9 aircraft, but an earlier version that was “by no means old,” Mr. Strickland said.
All Boeing 737-9 planes have been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after an Alaska Airlines plane suffered an explosion last week that left a cabin panel on a new plane falling off in mid-air, leaving a gaping hole in its side of the hull.
The plane with 177 passengers and crew members had to make an emergency landing in the US state of Oregon.
On Friday, the FAA extended the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft indefinitely pending further safety reviews and announced it would tighten oversight of Boeing itself.
The FAA said the 171 aircraft with the same configuration as the one in the incident must remain grounded “for the safety of American travelers.”