dailyloe.com – A Southwest Airlines flight from Albuquerque to Baltimore experienced a diversion due to a cracked windshield. The incident occurred on Monday during Flight 2665, which took off around 2 p.m., approximately 20 minutes behind schedule.
About an hour into the flight, while cruising at 37,000 feet, the Boeing 737 turned south and diverted to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Federal Aviation Administration reported that the airplane landed safely after the crew notified them of the windshield issue.
The aircraft, registered as N265WN, is over 19 years old. Southwest Airlines confirmed the flight diverted safely to Tulsa and that passengers were transferred to another airplane for their journey to Baltimore.
Passengers arrived in Baltimore around 11:30 p.m., which was four hours later than the initial schedule. The airline expressed appreciation for the professionalism of the flight crew during the incident.
While the cause of the windshield crack remains unclear, passengers were at minimal risk. Aircraft windshields are designed with multiple layers, including tempered glass, ensuring safe functionality even if one layer is compromised.
In October, a United Airlines jet experienced a similar issue when its windshield cracked due to a weather balloon at 36,000 feet. Though bird strikes are more common, significant damages from weather balloons or space debris are rare.
Another incident in October involved a government airplane carrying Pete Hegseth, which turned back over the Atlantic after its windshield cracked. A notorious event occurred in 1990 when a British Airways pilot was partially ejected due to improper screws used in windshield installation, but this was not related to a crack.
