Boeing plane returns to airport over cockpit window crack

An All Nippon Airways plane has had to return to its departure airport after a crack was found on the Boeing 737-800’s cockpit window mid-air.

A Japan Airlines plane taxis past an All Nippon Airways plane at Narita International Airport. Picture; AFP.

An All Nippon Airways plane has had to return to its departure airport after a crack was found on the Boeing 737-800’s cockpit window mid-air.

Flight 1182 was en route to Toyama airport but headed back to the Sapporo-New Chitose airport after the crack was found on the outermost of four layers of windows surrounding the cockpit, Reuters reports.

A spokesman said there were no injuries reported among the 59 passengers and six crew.

“The crack was not something that affected the flight’s control or pressurisation,” the ANA spokesperson said.

The aircraft was not one of Boeing’s 737 MAX 900 planes which have been in the spotlight after a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-air last week.

The door plug, which was meant to have been secured by four bolts and 12 stop fittings, blew out as the Alaska Airlines’ flight ascended from Portland on January 5.

A strongly worded statement issued by the FAA in relation to the January 5 incident began with “this incident should never have happened and it cannot happen again”.