A packed Virgin Atlantic Boeing jet’s windscreen ‘cracked at 40,000 feet’ while flying from Heathrow to San Francisco.
Photos show a dented central window pane with cracks in multiple areas but the cause of the damage has left investigators scratching their heads.
The crack in the four-layer thick glass left cockpit crew terrified as the plane made its transatlantic voyage.
The incident occurred three hours into the flight as the jet flew between Greenland and Iceland and forced Virgin Flight VS41 to make a U-turn and fly back to the UK on May 27.
Experts have said that the plane’s altitude meant it could not have hit a bird and no immediate other course have been highlighted but temperatures outside the aircraft were -50 degrees Celsius.
Despite the huge crack, pilots tried to calm fears that the cabin had suffered from any decompression and the airline apologised to passengers.
Following the return to the UK, travellers were offered accommodation and were able to fly to San Francisco the following day The Sun reported.
The terrifying crack is the latest issue to plague the already troubled Boeing manufacturer.
Earlier this month a passenger jet carrying 163 passengers and nine crew cleared the end of a runway by just ten feet after a software glitch allowed it to take off using too little power.
The TUI Boeing 737-800 was taking off from Bristol Airport’s 1.2-mile runway 9 to Gran Canaria on March 4 when it struggled to take off.
The 15-year-old jet eventually managed to get airborne but passed over the nearby A38 road at less than 100 feet before making its way to the sunny island.
Just last month a Boeing plane’s tyre burst during a landing in Turkey making it the third passenger aircraft built by the manufacturing giant to suffer a technical problem or crash in just two days.
Just days earlier a Boeing 767 cargo plane operated by FedEx made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport after its front landing gear failed and terrified passengers fled a burning Boeing 737-300 jet carrying 78 passengers after it skidded off the runway and caught fire during take-off in Senegal.
Following the terrifying and sometimes near fatal incidents, flyers have been taking to TikTok to say they will be changing their flights from Boeing aeroplanes and travelling with anti-anxiety medication as the aircraft manufacturer battles an ongoing safety crisis.
One TikToker posted a video of himself onboard a Boeing flight at Heathrow Airport, with the caption ‘About to hop on a Boeing flight drunk, wish me luck’.
Meanwhile, one person tweeted: ‘Might miss my flight for the first time ever. Not tripping though cos it’s a Boeing. Might be dodging a bullet here.’
A Virgin Atantics pokesperson said: ‘On 27th May 2024, our flight, the VS41 from London Heathrow to San Francisco returned to Heathrow due to damage to the outer layer of the cockpit windscreen.
‘At no point was the safety of the aircraft, our customers or our cabin crew compromised and the Captain made the decision to return to Heathrow, where we had the replacement parts and tooling in place to fix the issue and avoid further impact to our customers and our schedules.
‘We always work well above industry safety standardsand the aircraft was back in service within 24 hours of the event. We’d like to apologise to the customers involved, for the delay to their journeys.’