Oops: Jet Leaves Behind A Couple Of Windows On Takeoff

[forcebwithu]

Plane takes off with missing window panes as crew fails to spot damage

An Airbus A321 aircraft took off from London Stansted Airport last month with four damaged window panes, including two that were missing, according to UK air accident investigators.

Nine passengers and 11 crew members were on board the plane bound for Orlando International Airport in Florida on October 4, when the damage, apparently caused by high-powered lights used during a filming event the previous day, was discovered after takeoff.

The aircraft had reached an altitude of at least 14,000 feet by the time it was turned around, reads a special bulletin by the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB.) The plane landed back at Stansted Airport safely shortly afterward.
...

As the plane continued to climb and the seatbelt signs were switched off, the loadmaster, who had also noticed “increased cabin noise,” walked towards the back of the aircraft and spotted a cabin window on the left side of the aircraft with a window seal that was “flapping in the airflow.”

The loadmaster, who described the cabin noise as “loud enough to damage your hearing” informed the cabin crew and also went to the flight deck to let the commander know.
...

The flight crew initiated a descent and the aircraft arrived back at Stansted Airport a short while later. The total flight time was 36 minutes, according to the bulletin.

After passengers had disembarked and the plane was parked and shut down, the crew inspected the plane from the outside, and found that two cabin window panes were missing and a third was dislodged.

A shattered outer pane was later found “during a routine runway inspection” while a fourth window that “protruded from the left side of the fuselage” was also discovered.

“The four affected windows were adjacent to each other, just aft of the left overwing exit,” adds the bulletin.

The AAIB explains that the windows may have “sustained thermal damage and distortion” due to increased temperatures when the aircraft was used during filming for four to five and a half hours the day before the flight.
...

[Zeb]

Pursuing the aeronautical theme - rather the a new thread....

Thai Airways Posts Fourth-Straight Profit as China Numbers Grow

Thai Airways International Pcl reported a fourth-straight quarterly profit as passenger numbers continued to improve in the wake of Covid, with extra impetus coming from travelers from China.

Net income for the three months through September was 1.54 billion baht ($43 million), rebounding from a loss of 4.79 billion baht a year earlier, the airline said in an exchange filing Friday. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-10/thai-airways-posts-fourth-straight-profit-as-china-numbers-grow?srnd=premium-asia

[Butch]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:17 AM, Zeb said:

Pursuing the aeronautical theme - rather the a new thread....

Thai Airways Posts Fourth-Straight Profit as China Numbers Grow

Thai Airways International Pcl reported a fourth-straight quarterly profit as passenger numbers continued to improve in the wake of Covid, with extra impetus coming from travelers from China.

Net income for the three months through September was 1.54 billion baht ($43 million), rebounding from a loss of 4.79 billion baht a year earlier, the airline said in an exchange filing Friday. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-10/thai-airways-posts-fourth-straight-profit-as-china-numbers-grow?srnd=premium-asia

Rules won't allow me to post my thoughts on this, but suffice it to say, it might be that those numbers need closer investigation and scrutiny.

[Butch]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:10 AM, forcebwithu said:

Plane takes off with missing window panes as crew fails to spot damage

An Airbus A321 aircraft took off from London Stansted Airport last month with four damaged window panes, including two that were missing, according to UK air accident investigators.

Nine passengers and 11 crew members were on board the plane bound for Orlando International Airport in Florida on October 4, when the damage, apparently caused by high-powered lights used during a filming event the previous day, was discovered after takeoff.

The aircraft had reached an altitude of at least 14,000 feet by the time it was turned around, reads a special bulletin by the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB.) The plane landed back at Stansted Airport safely shortly afterward.
...

As the plane continued to climb and the seatbelt signs were switched off, the loadmaster, who had also noticed “increased cabin noise,” walked towards the back of the aircraft and spotted a cabin window on the left side of the aircraft with a window seal that was “flapping in the airflow.”

The loadmaster, who described the cabin noise as “loud enough to damage your hearing” informed the cabin crew and also went to the flight deck to let the commander know.
...

The flight crew initiated a descent and the aircraft arrived back at Stansted Airport a short while later. The total flight time was 36 minutes, according to the bulletin.

After passengers had disembarked and the plane was parked and shut down, the crew inspected the plane from the outside, and found that two cabin window panes were missing and a third was dislodged.

A shattered outer pane was later found “during a routine runway inspection” while a fourth window that “protruded from the left side of the fuselage” was also discovered.

“The four affected windows were adjacent to each other, just aft of the left overwing exit,” adds the bulletin.

The AAIB explains that the windows may have “sustained thermal damage and distortion” due to increased temperatures when the aircraft was used during filming for four to five and a half hours the day before the flight.
...

Jesus, that must have been some sustained heat soak to do that to glass. I think @coxyhog might have a more informed opinion, but Aircraft windows are reinforced glass and not plastic aren't they?.

I wonder what the heat cycle did to the 3mm of Aluminum that keeps us from arriving at our destination or falling screaming, into the blackness of night as we slowly asphyxiate and fall to our eventual painful, horrific, terror induced deaths.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Butch

[forqalso]

It looks like the window seals were compromised from the heat.  The cabin windows are three layers of stretched acrylic. Cockpit windows are the same with a pane of hydrophobic coated glass on the outside. 

[coxyhog]

2 hours ago, Butch said:

Jesus, that must have been some sustained heat soak to do that to glass. I think @coxyhog might have a more informed opinion, but Aircraft windows are reinforced glass and not plastic aren't they?.

I wonder what the heat cycle did to the 3mm of Aluminum that keeps us from arriving at our destination or falling screaming, into the blackness of night as we slowly asphyxiate and fall to our eventual painful, horrific, terror induced deaths.

As said above the cockpit windows need a tougher outer layer to(hopefully) withstand birdstrikes,also they need heating elements so the drivers can see through them in icing conditions.This was all about the seals failing due to the heat.The heat wouldn't have affected the fuselage structure if it was old style aluminium....not sure about the latest aircraft that have composite skins,after my time.

[Trip]

2 hours ago, coxyhog said:

As said above the cockpit windows need a tougher outer layer to(hopefully) withstand birdstrikes,also they need heating elements so the drivers can see through them in icing conditions.This was all about the seals failing due to the heat.The heat wouldn't have affected the fuselage structure if it was old style aluminium....not sure about the latest aircraft that have composite skins,after my time.

That reminds me of an old story you hear early in your USAF tours. Goes something like, USAF was putting together a training program for technicians on how to test the windscreens of C130s to guard against bird strikes. They needed to standardize it of course and pick something relatively widely available and not subject to save the world weirdos and SPCA types, so they chose a turkey, and specified average size birds, 15 lbs.

Everything went fine at first until one day there was a panicked emergency call from a test facility declaring that cockpit screens were being shattered by the test bird strikes.

The puzzled wonks at USAF didn't know what to do at first, so they asked the subject test facility to describe the steps they took because no one at HQ could re-produce the shattered screens being reported.

Nothing seemed wrong with the steps being taken and finally an exasperated HQ official asked the test facility to send a picture or 3 of their tests.

Once he got the picture, the problem was obvious so he responds to the test facility;

Step-1: Thaw turkey.

 

[Aqualung]

21 hours ago, Trip said:

That reminds me of an old story you hear early in your USAF tours. Goes something like, USAF was putting together a training program for technicians on how to test the windscreens of C130s to guard against bird strikes. They needed to standardize it of course and pick something relatively widely available and not subject to save the world weirdos and SPCA types, so they chose a turkey, and specified average size birds, 15 lbs.

Everything went fine at first until one day there was a panicked emergency call from a test facility declaring that cockpit screens were being shattered by the test bird strikes.

The puzzled wonks at USAF didn't know what to do at first, so they asked the subject test facility to describe the steps they took because no one at HQ could re-produce the shattered screens being reported.

Nothing seemed wrong with the steps being taken and finally an exasperated HQ official asked the test facility to send a picture or 3 of their tests.

Once he got the picture, the problem was obvious so he responds to the test facility;

Step-1: Thaw turkey.

 

Brilliant mate..... First class.