A Southwest Airlines flight from Albuquerque to Baltimore diverted to Tulsa after its windshield cracked at 37,000 feet, forcing passengers onto another plane and delaying their arrival by about 4 hours.
The airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said the Boeing 737 landed safely in Oklahoma. The FAA said it would investigate the incident.
Flight 2665 took off from Albuquerque around 2pm on Monday, about 20 minutes behind schedule, and was due to land in Baltimore about three and a half hours later. Data from Flightradar24 showed that just over an hour into the journey, the aircraft turned south and diverted.
The plane involved, registered as N265WN, is more than 19 years old. Southwest said passengers were rebooked on a different aircraft and later arrived in Baltimore around 11:30pm, four hours later than planned.
In a statement, the FAA said the airplane landed safely “after the crew reported a cracked windshield.” Southwest said the flight “diverted safely to Tulsa due to a windshield crack” and landed “uneventfully”.
“We appreciate the professionalism of our Flight Crew,” the airline said.
Windshield cracks are rare but are treated seriously because aircraft windscreens are built with several layers, including tempered glass and other materials, designed to remain safe if one layer is damaged. The exact cause of this crack is not yet clear.
The incident follows other recent windshield-related diversions. Last October, a United Airlines jet was damaged by a weather balloon at 36,000 feet, and in the same month a government aircraft carrying Pete Hegseth turned back over the Atlantic after its windshield cracked.
Serious windshield incidents remain unusual in aviation, but they can attract attention because of the risks involved. The most notorious case came in 1990, when a British Airways pilot was partially ejected from an aircraft after the windshield had been installed with the wrong screws. He survived with frostbite and fractures after the crew held him in place.
The Southwest case is now under review by the FAA, while passengers have already been moved on to their destination. The airline said it was grateful for its flight crew’s response.
