Plane diverted over Florida after windshield cracks during flight
A JetBlue flight from Puerto Rico to Tampa was diverted to South Florida Sunday after its outer windshield cracked in midair.
The midday flight took off from San Juan at 10:29 a.m., but ended up having to alter its course shortly into the flight and landed in Fort Lauderdale just before 1 p.m.
"JetBlue flight 1052 from San Juan to Tampa diverted to Fort Lauderdale in an abundance of caution following a report of damage to one of the outer layers of the cockpit windscreen," JetBlue said in a statement. "The flight landed safely at approximately 1:00 p.m. local time. Customers have been accommodated on another aircraft."
The cracks did not cause the plane to lose cabin pressure.
Passengers changed planes and eventually arrived in Tampa at 3:31 p.m., according to Tampa ABC affiliate WFTS.
Michael Paluska, a reporter for WFTS, happened to be on the flight during the emergency and filmed flight attendants reacting to the problem.
"It happens, I wouldn't say frequently, but I've actually had this happen before," the flight attendant told passengers. "There's multiple, multiple layers in the windscreen and it's the outer layer that shattered. ... Like I said, we're not in any grave danger."
Southwest has been involved in two recent incidents involving cracked windows on their planes. Last Wednesday a window cracked on a flight from Chicago to Newark, New Jersey, forcing an emergency landing in Cleveland. The flight landed safely and no one was injured.
In a much more serious incident, a window broke after it was hit by debris from an engine explosion on a Southwest flight on April 17 and one passenger was partially sucked out of the window. The woman, Jennifer Riordan, a 43-year-old mother of two from New Mexico, died from her injuries.
