Source: Xinhua Author: 01/11/2010
Subject Concerned: Government Airlines
On Jan. 10, an Air New Zealand plane had to be diverted to the Australian city of Brisbane due to a cracked windscreen.
The flight was en route from Auckland to Cairns.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) engineers and investigators would examine the windscreen and prepare an initial report on the incident later on Jan. 11, ABC News in Australia reported.
The 118 passengers put up in Brisbane hotels overnight and were being flown to Cairns on Jan. 11.
Passenger Ruby Boussard, from Cairns, said there was no panic on board when the plane plummeted momentarily after its windscreen cracked mid-flight, ABC News reported.
She said it was another 40 minutes before the plane landed in Brisbane. It dropped to a low altitude below the clouds before it landed, she said.
A spokeswoman for Air New Zealand said the crack developed in one of the windows on the pilot's side of the cockpit.
The window was more than 4cm thick and made up of three separate panes of glass. The crack was on the inside pane only which in no way risked the integrity of the windscreen, she said.
A replacement screen was fitted and the aircraft was now back in service.