emergency landing at Manchester airport tonight

[Chris Houston]

I'm writing this on the bus on the way to glasgow after the BA flight I was on from gatwick had to do an emergency landing due to the cockpit window shattering.  Noticed the abundance of fire fighting vehicles escort us briefly and wondered if anyone who was there might read this and tell me what they knew of our planes problems and if that happens a lot?

[Benfire]

I've been to at least 3 calls I can remember in the last 3 years for a cracked cockpit window.  Was the window definately shattered?  Those windows are hard to break, maybe a bird strike?

[Chris Houston]

it was very shattered saw it myself and chatted to the pilot. She said she thinks the heating element shorted as there was a yellow flash. No bird strike. Even was allowed to take a quick photo on the camera phone.

[Chris Houston]

ps when I say shattered I mean covered in cracks, but still in one piece.

[Yeebsy]

Even if it was in one piece I bet the captain was squinting her eyes just in case.

[Speedy]

Chris, I work at Manchester and since I started there have been about 5 incidents of cracked windscreens.  Your aircraft more than likely came in on a Full Emergency then the PDA would have been downgraded as soon as you taxied off the runway, hence the short escort.

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The above represents my personal opinions only.

[Chris Houston]

Thanks for that, quite an intereting experience.  5 incidents in how many years?  Did they all end safely?

[Speedy]

5 in 12 years.  Yes they all landed safely, as you can imagine it's quite a fright initally for the flight crew and theres a danger that it could lead to serious consquences if not acted upon, hence the emergency landing.

[Chris Houston]

I can report that it is quite a fright for the passengers too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think we were all quite happy to be on the ground!!!!!!!!