A British Airways aircraft’s windscreen cracked after an ice block fell from another aircraft flying 1,000 ft above it, media reports said.
The Boeing 777 aircraft was flying at 35,000 feet and was traveling from London to Costa Rica on Christmas Day when this incident took place. The block of ice cracked the 2-inch windscreen, which is made of bulletproof glass.
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Despite the accident, the jet landed safely and many described the incident as a ‘one-in-a-million’ chance. The aircraft left around 200 passengers on the return leg stranded at the airport for 50 hours.
Jo Mitchell, a passenger, expressed her feelings for the flight being delayed for 50 hours. Mitchell said she and her husband had a plan to return from Costa Rica to Edinburgh via Gatwick but the airline app only showed a four-hour delay.
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“When it was our turn to check-in, the San Jose desk staff had informed us that the plane had a broken windshield and it would be too dangerous to fly it back. We were upset realising we would miss Christmas,” said Mitchell.
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British Airways issued an apology to the passengers for ruining their Christmas Day plans. “We appreciate the patience and the understanding of our customers and our engineers and crew colleagues who have also done all they can to assist,” the airline said while offering a full refund to all the affected passengers.