Texas flight forced to make dramatic U-turn after windshield cracks
A Mesa Airlines flight was forced to return to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, Sunday after its windshield cracked shortly after takeoff.
United Airlines Flight 6309, operated by Mesa, had set off bound for El Paso International Airport at approximately 12.20 p.m., only to have to make a dramatic U-turn as a result of the damage.
The Embraer E175 arrived back in Houston at 1 p.m. and managed to taxi safely to its gateway.
No one was harmed in the incident and the passengers aboard were subsequently transferred to a replacement plane that took them on to their destination safely, arriving at 3.14 p.m., according to CNN, citing data from Flightradar.
The Houston Fire Department meanwhile responded to the first plane and later declared it safe to resume flying once the damaged glass had been replaced.
Air traffic control recordings subsequently obtained by ABC News indicate that pressurization was not lost after the accident occurred, despite the first officer’s side of the cockpit windshield shattering.
While aircraft typically have multiple layers of tempered glass in place, meaning a crack sustained by one is not a major issue, the ATC audio in this case found the pilots reporting shards falling directly into the cockpit, suggesting several layers had been damaged, a much more serious problem.
A spokesperson for Mesa Airlines told CNN: “The first officer’s windshield shattered shortly after takeoff and while there was no depressurization, standard procedure in such cases is to return to field.”
It is not yet clear what caused the issue but the Federal Aviation Administration told The Independent it will investigate.
The Independent has also reached out to Mesa and the National Transportation Safety Board for further comment.
A similar incident occurred last October when a weather balloon struck a United flight en route to Los Angeles, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah.
