The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it has opened an investigation into an incident aboard a Delta Air Lines from Salt Lake City to Washington DC on Thursday in which the cockpit windscreen cracked so severely that the glass looked like it had shattered.
The Delta operated Boeing 757-200 was north of Denver when the front right-hand windshield cracked, apparently without warning. The pilots diverted to Denver where the aircraft landed without further incident around 25 minutes.
None of the 198 passengers or crew was injured according to a Delta spokesperson. The airline said the aircraft encountered a mid-flight “maintenance issue” without providing any further detail.
However, one of the passengers onboard the aircraft managed to snap a photo of the window before deplaning the nearly 24-year-old aircraft.
Dr. Kirk Knowlton described the incident as “spontaneous” in a Twitter message.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the flight crew diverted into Denver and the plane landed routinely,” the airline said in a statement. “Our team worked quickly to accommodate customers on a new plane, and we sincerely apologize for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.”
An Airbus A321 aircraft was sourced as a replacement but that aircraft had to make an unplanned diversion to Richmond, Virginia before finally getting to Washington DC.
