Windows fell out of Airbus A321

It seems recently that everyone, at least the media, enjoy having a bash at Boeing.

Only recently there had been a report about a complete panel falling off the side of a plane but on reading the report it turns out that it was more likely the fault of the airline who wanted an emergency door replaced by a dummy panel in order to get another row of paying seats into the aircraft. The panel had not been fitted correctly according to the manufacturers instructions.

Now on an Airbus A321 it seems that windows were coming loose.

But this time it seems to be more a design weakness than the fault of Titan Airways who operate the plane.

The air accident investigation branch (AAIB) stated that the aircraft had returened to Stansted to make an emergency landing because a cabin window was seen to be loose shortly after take-off. Also "several windowpanes were missing".

Evidently the problems was caused by high intensity lights which a film crew had been using.

Airbus plan to issue warnings to operators about this subject.

From a layman's perspective it seems weird that bright light can cause the windows to come loose. As it happens only nine passengers wer on board the aircraft at the time of the incident, but this is a rather unimportant detail. The plane could still have potentially crashed into a town on its way to Orlando and it was at ten thaousand feet. The plane had actually reached fourteen thousand before the crew aborted the ascent.

Accordng to the report: the damage was caused the day before the flight when the aircraft had been used for filming on the ground, and lights had been shone through the cabin windows from outside to give the illusion of a sunrise.

The report was hardly visible in the press. They would probably have been screaming for the entire fleet to be grounded if it had been a Boeing.

-pw- London