Plane forced to make emergency landing after window cracked

Passengers aboard a European plane bound for Britain were diverted after the aircraft’s windscreen cracked mid-air, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing.

On Sunday (7 April), travellers set off on what should have been an 80+ minute flight from Guernsey Airport to Manchester Airport at 5.17pm.

The Channel Island flight, operated by Aurigny, was due to land in the North West at around 6.40pm.

However, it ended up making a dramatic U-turn over the town of Thatcham, Berkshire.

Instead of heading straight on to Manchester, the plane was diverted to Southampton Airport following a major on-board issue.

The ATR 72 aircraft, which can typically hold up to 72 passengers, reportedly started squawking 7700, a universal aviation transponder code used to signal an emergency, the Liverpool Echo wrote.

An Aurigny aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on its way to Manchester (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

After the sign was made, GR687 was diverted to Southampton as a ‘precautionary’ measure as pilots reported the plane's windscreen had accidentally cracked whilst on the short journey.

"In line with standard operating procedures, the flight crew carried out a precautionary emergency landing,” the Guernsey-based company confirmed, adding that no passengers or crew had been injured aboard the short-haul propeller plane.

Once South Coast-stranded customers had disembarked from the carrier, they were loaded onto a coach bound for Manchester.

The alternative travel arrangement was designed to ‘minimise disruption’, according to a statement.

Those who headed to Manchester were thanked by the airline for ‘their patience and understanding’.

The company confirmed nobody was harmed (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Their safety, and that of our team, is our priority,” a spokesperson added.

An alternative aircraft was enlisted to transport Aurigny flyers on the delayed return GR679 flight from Manchester to Guernsey.

Earlier this year, Aurigny announced plans to scale back its service to London City by merging its Exeter and Bristol routes due to the rising cost of jet fuel amid conflict in Iran.

Nico Bezuidenhout, Aurigny's chief executive, said an unexpected decline in bookings could also be blamed for the reduced number of flights.

Tyla has contacted Aurigny for further comment.

Anyone who is jetting off with any airline this summer should be aware of what may happen if they decide not to put their phone in aeroplane mode.

As per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), all plane passengers who have electronic devices with cellular connection on their person must place them in aeroplane mode or disable the connection before the flight leaves the runway.

If you don’t, pilots may hear background noise and experience interference, especially during landing, the FAA warned.

Not putting your phone in the desired mode could affect communications (Tyla)

Aviation expert and content creator @Perchpoint previously said that if you do forget, then ‘it's not the end of the world’.

“The plane will not fall out of the sky, and it won't even mess with the systems on board,” the TikToker said.

"It does have the potential to mess with the headsets,” he warned.

“If you have an aircraft with 70, 80, or 150 people on board and even three or four people's phones start to try and make a connection to a radio tower for an incoming phone call, it sends out radio waves.

"There's a potential that those radio waves can interfere with the headsets that the pilots are using.”

So while your phone is unlikely to cause an accident, it could be seriously annoying for the people flying to your holiday destination.