Alaska Airlines windshield cracks while landing in latest in-flight incident for Boeing
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 jet suffered a cracked windshield while landing in Oregon on Sunday, the latest in a string of incidents involving aircraft belonging to the company.
The windshield of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 jet cracked while landing in Oregon on Sunday, the latest in a string of incidents involving aircraft belonging to the company.
The jet, Flight 9 from Washington, D.C., was descending at Portland International Airport when a minor crack appeared on the inner windshield, Alaska Airlines said in a statement provided to FOX Business.
"The crew followed their checklists and the aircraft continued safely to its destination as scheduled," the statement reads.
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Alaska Airlines said its 737 fleets are outfitted with five-layer windscreens that have an outer pane, three inner layers and an inner pane.
"If an inner pane cracks, the other pane and layers can maintain cabin pressure. Our maintenance team inspected and repaired the windshield, and the aircraft is back in service," the statement reads.
There were 159 passengers and six crew members onboard, according to the airline. No injuries were reported.
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Boeing reiterated the different layers on the windshield are designed for safety purposes.
"Cracked windshields frequently occur across all models of airplane from all manufacturers. Cracks are generally limited to the outside layer of the windshield, which is a protective coating for the structural portion of the windshield and do not create a safety-of-flight issue," a Boeing spokesperson told FOX Business.
"Also, the glass is tempered during the manufacturing process to provide additional strength."
Boeing has been working to repair its image since a door plug flew off another Alaska Airlines 737 Max 7 midflight in January, forcing an emergency landing.
The terrifying incident resulted in the Federal Aviation Administration auditing the plane manufacturer. It found that Boeing failed 33 aspects of the audit with a total of 97 points of noncompliance, according to The New York Times. The company passed 56 points in the audit.
Last week, the company was back in the international news after a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took a "nose dive" during a LATAM Airlines flight to New Zealand, leaving 50 people injured and sparking investigations from authorities about what caused the rapid drop in altitude.
A United Airlines Boeing 777-300 plane was also forced to turn around midflight after suffering what the airline says was a "maintenance issue" following takeoff from Sydney.
Last Friday, a Boeing 737 was found to have a missing panel after it landed in Oregon.
A tire also fell from a United Boeing 777 earlier this month, while a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by United Airlines slid off the runway at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on March 8.
News also broke last week that a whistleblower who raised doubts about Boeing's production standards was found dead.
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Authorities in South Carolina said John Barnett, who was a quality control engineer at Boeing for decades, died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Saturday. Days before he died, Barnett was cross-examined by Boeing's lawyers and his own attorneys in a lawsuit against the company.
Barnett's attorneys are calling for a full investigation into his death and say the lawsuit could continue despite his death.
Last week, Reuters reported that Boeing announced internally it is adding weekly compliance checks for every 737 work area and additional audits of equipment to reduce quality problems, after a six-week audit of Boeing's 737 Max manufacturing processes by the FAA faulted numerous company processes.
FOX Business' Breck Dumas, Aislinn Murphy, Chris Pandolfo, Timothy Nerozzi and Greg Norman as well as Reuters contributed to this report.