WFTS(TAMPA, Fla.) — A JetBlue flight from Puerto Rico to Tampa was forced to make an emergency landing in South Florida on Sunday after its outer windshield shattered in midair.
The midday flight took off from San Juan at 10:29 a.m., but ended up having to alter its course shortly into the flight and landed in Fort Lauderdale just before 1 p.m.
“JetBlue flight 1052 from San Juan to Tampa diverted to Fort Lauderdale in an abundance of caution following a report of damage to one of the outer layers of the cockpit windscreen,” JetBlue said in a statement. “The flight landed safely at approximately 1:00 p.m. local time. Customers have been accommodated on another aircraft.”
The cracks did not cause the plane to lose cabin pressure.
Passengers changed planes and eventually arrived in Tampa at 3:31 p.m., according to Tampa ABC affiliate WFTS.
Michael Paluska, a reporter for WFTS, happened to be on the flight during the emergency and filmed flight attendants reacting to the problem.
“It happens, I wouldn’t say frequently, but I’ve actually had this happen before,” the flight attendant told passengers. “There’s multiple, multiple layers in the windscreen and it’s the outer layer that shattered. … Like I said, we’re not in any grave danger.”
Southwest has been involved in two recent incidents involving cracked windows on their planes. Last Wednesday a window cracked on a flight from Chicago to Newark, New Jersey, forcing an emergency landing in Cleveland. The flight landed safely and no one was injured.
In a much more serious incident, a window broke after it was hit by debris from an engine explosion on a Southwest flight on April 17 and one passenger was partially sucked out of the window. The woman, Jennifer Riordan, a 43-year-old mother of two from New Mexico, died from her injuries.
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