n Air Canada Boeing 787 flying across the Atlantic was forced to turn back after its windshield cracked

[Guest]

An Air Canada Boeing 787 flying across the Atlantic was forced to turn back after its windshield cracked

 

‎Today, ‎November ‎26, ‎2019, ‏‎20 minutes ago | Canadian Aviation News

News provided by Business Insider – link to full story and updates

Sinéad Baker 5 hours ago

An Air Canada Boeing 787 Dreamliner in August 2018. 

• An Air Canada Boeing 787-8 flight had to turn around Saturday when the crew spotted a crack in the windshield.
• Flight 857 was due to fly from London to Toronto but instead landed in Dublin because of the incident.
• The flight had already flown beyond Ireland and was over the Atlantic Ocean when it turned around, data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 shows.
• The passengers were put on a different flight the next day, while the plane was repaired and put back into service, the aviation-news website Simple Flying reported.
• Other 787 flights have also experienced cracked windshields that prompted the planes to land.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

An Air Canada Boeing 787 plane that was flying across the Atlantic from London to Toronto instead landed in Dublin after a crack in its windshield was noticed mid-flight.

Flight 857 was about one hour into its journey Saturday and had already passed Ireland when the plane turned around, the aviation-news website Simple Flying reported.

The plane, a 787-8 model, landed in Dublin about 55 minutes after the crew reported the incident, according to Simple Flying.

Data from the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 shows the plane’s abrupt U-turn upon finding the crack:

A map from FlightRadar24 showing the aircraft’s rapid change of direction after the crack was spotted. 

The passengers were put on a different 787-8 plane to continue on to Toronto the following day.

Simple Flying reported that the plane with the crack was repaired and flown back to Canada after repairs in Dublin. The plane, with a tail number of C-GHQY, is now back in regular service, according to the outlet.

Other Boeing 787 planes have experienced cracked windshields, including a Jetstar Boeing 787-8 plane that was diverted to Melbourne, Australia, while en route to Indonesia in September.

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the Air Canada flight and the broader subject of cracked windshields on 787 aircraft.

The incidents have also previously involved Air Canada. In September, a flight from Shanghai to Vancouver was diverted to Tokyo after a crack appeared.

Air Canada said after that flight that the landing was precautionary because the windows had two panes of glass.

Boeing is also dealing with a separate cracking problem in its 737 plane model, in which cracks have appeared on an area called the pickle fork, which connects the plane body, wing structure, and landing gear.

This has led some airlines, like Ryanair and Qantas, to ground some of the planes after they found cracks during inspections.  https://canadianaviationnews.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/an-air-canada-boeing-787-flying-across-the-atlantic-was-forced-to-turn-back-after-its-windshield-cracked/

[Ex 9A Guy]

Nothing like making a big news story over a non event.  A cracked window, really.

Well done crew who I am sure made this safety conscious decision in concert with their dispatcher and maintenance.

[J.O.]

1 hour ago, Ex 9A Guy said:

Nothing like making a big news story over a non event.  A cracked window, really.

Well done crew who I am sure made this safety conscious decision in concert with their dispatcher and maintenance.

Indeed. I'd bet a week's pay there are at least 3 of these somewhere in the world every single day. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, J.O. said:

Indeed. I'd bet a week's pay there are at least 3 of these somewhere in the world every single day. 

Non event ? and handled by the crew but there is a comment later on in the story that implies that the 787 has a history of cracked windows. True or just a reported seeking a story?

 

[boestar]

There is no airliner I have ever touched that I didn't have to replace a cracked windshield on

[Seeker]

By co-incidence I happened to meet the Capt of this flight in YYZ the day after the event.  Yes, by the standards of all inflight emergencies it's relatively small potatoes but to hear the story first-hand....well, I wouldn't call it a "non-event."

[boestar]

Well a "Cracked Window" when it comes to an aircraft is a pretty broad term.  Also depending on what cracked different actions are required. 

Did an inner pane crack? Outer Pane?  Innerlayer?

What Altitude? Which Window Was it?

Every one of those questions gets a different response, at least on older aircraft.  I am not sure of the new fangled dreamliner

 

[Kip Powick]

July 25.....1966

Driving a DC 3 at 8000 feet in cloud (I was the FO  but in the Mil we switched seats for each sector)

Encountered some turbulence in cloud

Then the sh!t hit the fan

Hail rained down on the old bird

Port engine started to sputter

My windscreen cracked, caved  and fell in pieces into` the cockpit...(not too much wind effect)

Recovered from the left wing down, slight spiral, at 3000 feet

Landed at Earlton (YXR) Ontario

Kicked out the remaining glass. The "F/E " sewed up the horizontal stab, (ripped by the hail), with some  fishing line) ....cut the HF antennae off at the mast as it was trailing behind us....cleaned out the glass from both landing light pods

Waited for the grizzled old Captain to take the left seat...(now his sector) and then  he said .........

"You take the left seat Bucko...good experience for you "

Flew back to Base ( CFB North Bay) with my seat as low as it could go and max speed was 100 kts...not too windy

ADDITION....

The Captain also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. ( Small bio in the link)

http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2016/03/shep-mayer.html

.When the Captain retired from the RCAF/CF he was given a normal retirement dinner...He had so much time in a DC-3, (War-time/Peace Time), that the RCAF/CF gave him a complete left seat from a DC3.    .............The Captain passed away in 2005 at the age of 81.

 

[conehead]

Great story Kip! I was gonna say, the glass wouldn’t cave in too hard when you’re nearly in a hover... 

[Homerun]

http://avherald.com/h?article=4cc482c2

Here is good picture of the cracked windshield from the summer event.  Both of these recent events were the outer glass pane.  The inner 2 panes are acrylic.