Summary
- American Airlines flight makes an emergency landing in Boston due to a cracked windshield over the Atlantic.
- Maintenance issues caused the aircraft to divert, but passengers were provided with accommodations.
- Cracked windshields are common in commercial aviation and can lead to emergency landings if severe.
An American Airlines flight was forced to turn back over the Atlantic Ocean after it suffered a cracked windshield. The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER enroute to Madrid from New York, landed in Boston safely and has since returned to service.
American 777 windshield incident over Atlantic
The aircraft, registered as N790AN, was operating American Airlines flight 94 (AA94) from New York-JFK (JFK) to Madrid Airport (MAD) on February 28th when it diverted to Boston Logan (BOS) due to a cracked windshield. Data from Flightradar24.com shows the flight took off from JFK at 19:55 local time and headed eastbound over the Atlantic Ocean to its destination in Spain. However, less than an hour into the journey, the flight crew declared an Alert 2 emergency, which, under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines, signifies “major difficulties.”
Photo: Flightradar24
The aircraft was at 37,000 feet (FL370) when it declared an emergency before initiating a turnaround over the Atlantic – the flight descended to FL250 and landed safely in Boston at 22:04.
A statement from American said,
“The flight landed safely and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. Customers will re-depart for Madrid tomorrow on a replacement aircraft. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.”
Maintenance issue
An American spokesperson added that the diversion happened due to a “maintenance issue” and that the aircraft would be removed from service for an immediate inspection. The carrier has since returned the affected aircraft to service after around 38 hours on the ground – N790AN was repositioned to Charlotte (CLT) on March 1st before operating as AA716 to Munich (MUC) later that day.
Photo: Santi Rodriguez | Shutterstock
The carrier did not provide further details on how many passengers were onboard the aircraft. These passengers would have to wait another 19 hours for a replacement flight, which departed Boston at around 16:00 the next day. American provided passengers onboard the flight with hotel accommodations and meal vouchers, as per passenger rights regulations.
Cracked windshields
Cracked windshields occur more often than you’d think in the commercial aviation industry, happening on almost a weekly basis. In some cases, pilots decide that their aircraft is still fit to continue flying if the damage doesn’t appear extensive, as happened on a Norse Atlantic flight from Orlando to London in January.
Photo: Greg K__ca | Shutterstock
However, the issue will often necessitate an emergency landing, particularly if the damage looks to have penetrated through the outer windshield layer. Simple Flying has previously explored the question of how dangerous cracked windshields are, noting that modern windshields are designed to withstand strikes.
How Dangerous Are Cracks In Aircraft Windshields?
Cracked windshields on aircraft are much more common than frequent travelers realize.
However, there have been some high-profile cases involving windshield malfunctions in recent years – most notably, Sichuan Airlines flight 8633, when one of the pilots was partially sucked out of the cockpit.
What is the longest delay you have ever experienced due to a diversion? Let us know your stories in the comment section.
