Southwest Flight Bound For Newark Forced To Land Because Of Cracked Window
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - A Southwest Airlines flight headed to Newark Liberty International Airport had to land in Cleveland on Wednesday, because of a broken window.
Pictures taken by passengers show cracks in the plane's exterior window.
The interior window stayed intact, and the cabin did not depressurize.
Wednesday's incident came just two weeks after a woman was partially sucked out a shattered window on another Southwest flight.
Both incidents involved a Boeing 737-700.
Passengers were transferred to an undamaged plane, and Flight 957 finally landed safely in Newark.
"It was a little frightening. I fly all the time for work. This was the most disturbing flight I've ever had. But the Southwest crew was very professional. They were very calm," passenger Kara O'Grady said.
She was seated in the exit row – row 11 – just a few feet from the cracked window.
"It sounded like when you have gravel hit your window, you know when you're driving your car and you get hit by construction gravel. It was that same kind of 'pop' noise," she said. "I looked to my left, realized the window was actually cracked and I hit the attendant light. The gentleman behind me hit the attendant light. We both unbuckled and ran to the back of the plane."
"Like a loud 'boom.' I just said to my friend that was sitting next to me, 'that's not normal, I'm not sure what that was,'" said passenger Rachel Colby.
More: President Trump Praises Southwest Crew, Passengers For 'Tremendous Bravery'
Several passengers said they flashed back to April 17 when debris from a blown engine shattered a window on another Southwest flight from LaGuardia to Dallas, causing the death of mother and bank executive Jennifer Riordan. But they quickly realized this was much less serious.
"It was the outside window. So we never lost pressure or anything like that," passenger Sarah Raymond said. "Masks never dropped down."
Passengers said the crew was calm and professional.
"Southwest was awesome. They did a good job, they kept us informed the whole time," said passenger Rich Robinson.
Experts say this is a very rare occurrence and aircraft windows are extremely robust.
The Federal Aviation Administration will look into various possible causes, including a debris strike during takeoff or window fatigue. The plane is 20 years old.
