Air India flight aborted after windshield cracks mid-air

LUCKNOW: At least 150 passengers in a Lucknow-bound Air India (AI) flight from New Delhi had a near squeak after the windshield of the cockpit cracked mid-air on Sunday.

Flight AI 411 had taken off from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport at around 7.15 am on Sunday. As the Airbus A-320 lifted, the pilot saw the crack and informed the ATC, and decided to head back to New Delhi. It was only after the aircraft landed at IGI Airport that the passengers learnt what had happened.

Air India officials in Lucknow confirmed that the flight was aborted following a crack in the windshield. Air India terminal manager in Lucknow, Sujit Kumar, said the Lucknow-bound passengers arrived by another AI flight.

"How the crack appeared on the windshield is yet to be ascertained," said an airport official, suggesting that an inquiry would settle this.

In May, a Bhubaneswar-bound Air India flight, AI 873, from Delhi had to make an emergency landing at Lucknow airport after the co-pilot detected a crack in the windshield of the cockpit.

The aircraft, Airbus-321, was flying at 38,000 feet over Khajuraho when the pilot informed the passengers that they would be making an emergency landing in Lucknow soon after he saw the crack.