This year has been a bit odd concerning the window safety on planes.
Fairly recently, there was the incident that involved a female passenger nearly being pulled out of a plane window. While the woman did not survive, the plane landed safely and the rest of the passengers were fine. Including this, there have been a total of 6 incidents recently to airplane windows.
Chinese pilot safely makes emergency landing as co-pilot is halfway out of window
A month after the Southwest ordeal, a similar incident occurred on a Sichuan flight. In late May, a plane that departed from Chongqing was heading to Lhasa, Tibet, carrying a total of 128 people, was thrown into chaos.
The pilot said there was sudden break in the windshield, and the co-pilot was sucked halfway out.
This caused a sudden drop in temperature and loss of air pressure to the cabin. The craft was flying over 500 MPH, and was 32,000 feet up. Miraculously, the pilot was able to safely make an emergency landing, dispute failure of the plane's automatic systems. Lui Chuanjian, the pilot, manually flew the plane to safety, and managed to avoid tragedy.
Thanks to a further miracle, the co-pilot that had been partially sucked out of the window survived situation. He was subjected to extremely cold temperatures, extreme force, and lack of oxygen. The co-pilot suffered a back injury and scratches, but otherwise was fine.
As for the passengers, many were thrown around, but ultimately none were hurt.
The pilot, co-pilot, and crew all received different sums of money. Lui, the pilot, is recognized as a hero, but still
Are airplane windows safe?
Image via Pixabay
While I have not found any known cause for why the window broke suddenly, but some speculation has begun about airplane window safety.
With so many in such a short time span, it is difficult to say it is a coincidence.
Airplane windows are known to be very durable. Experts say that window failure is almost never an issue. This extremely unlikely event may just be caused by other issues, such as structural issues.
6 airline window breaks in 1 month
Though it is said to be almost impossible, the 6 incidents in the past few months may make some question this.
The first of these was the Southwest window that broke due to a possible fan blade, and was promptly followed less than a day later by an India Air flight having a window panel fall off. It was turbulence that caused this panel to come off, and while some were harmed, no one was killed in the incident luckily.
Just a week after that, a Flybe plane made an emergency landing due to a cracked windshield in the cockpit. In this case, the window did not break.
Southwest had another window issue on May 2nd. A window cracked, and the decision was made to divert the plane and land safely. This time as well, the window did not break. Of course, the passengers were quite scared due to the recent Southwest window breakage.
Less than a week later, a Jetblue flight made an emergency landing after it's cockpit window cracked as well. Similarly to the Flybe flight, there were no injuries as the window did not break open.
The Sichuan flight on May 15th is the most recent in this chain of events with airplane windows.
Whether the issue is structural or due to the window itself, I feel there is an issue that needs to be addressed regarding window safety. Perhaps there is a structural problem that is causing the window issues, or perhaps this is just a string of bad luck.
Whatever the cause of the increase in airplane window problems, I will likely think twice before picking a window seat in the future.
Flying is still remarkably safe compared to other forms of travel, so while these occurrences is sure to cause some worry, it is best to remain optimistic knowing the unlikeliness of the situation.
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