YIKES

Plane Flying to U.S. From London Took Off With Window Panes Missing

A crew member said the noise in the cabin was “loud enough to damage your hearing.”

An aircraft flying from the U.K. to the U.S. took off with several windowpanes damaged or missing and had to turn back over safety fears, British aviation authorities said. In a bulletin last week, the U.K.’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the people on board the Oct. 4 flight between London Stansted Airport and Orlando International Airport realized there was a problem when they noticed the “cabin seemed noisier and colder than they were used to.” There were nine passengers on the Airbus A321 and 11 crew members—one of whom said the noise was “loud enough to damage your hearing.” The crew decided to return to Stansted where they discovered two windowpanes missing, one “dislodged,” and a fourth “protruded from the left side.” The bulletin said the damage had been caused by “high power lights used during a filming event” the day before the flight.