Safety first. El Al (illustration)
Photo: Niv Calderon
El Al plane turns back over cracked windowpane
Fracture found in front windshield of aircraft flying to Romania prompts pilot to return to Ben-Gurion Airport. El Al says measure precautionary rather than obligatory, crack caused by temperature differences during takeoff
An El Al plane en route to Bucharest, Romania, was forced to return to Ben-Gurion International Airport overnight, after a crack was discovered in its front windowpane.
Once back in Tel Aviv, the 98 passengers aboard the 737 Boeing were placed on another flight to Romania.
The plane took off in the early hours of Friday morning. Shortly after, the pilot noticed a crack in the windshield and reported it to the air traffic control tower, which ordered him to turn around immediately.
Nevertheless, the plane had to circle the airport for an hour in order to burn some fuel, before it was able to land.
An inspection preformed by the airport's ground maintenance crews reveled that the crack was apparently caused by the temperature changes typical to the takeoff process, rather than by a foreign object hitting the windowpane.
El Al officials told Ynet that the flight could have continued to Bucharest safely, but since such a malfunction requires immediate attention once the plane lands, the company preferred it be taken care of by its own mechanics crews rather than by the Romanian ones.
