Japan All Nippon Airways flight overturns due to broken cabin window

(CNN) — A domestic flight of Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) to Toyama returned to its departure airport in Sapporo this Saturday after a crack in the cabin of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was discovered, the airline confirmed to CNN this Monday. .

“A crack was discovered about 40 minutes after takeoff in the second window from the right side of six windows in the cabin,” ANA said, adding that all 65 passengers and crew of ANA Flight 1182 returned safely.

The crack was found in the outermost layer of the cabin window glass, which consists of a total of four layers of tempered glass, ANA said.

The flight took off from Sapporo-New Chitose Airport at 10:45 am local time (8:45 pm Miami time). The crack was discovered at 11:25 a.m. (9:25 p.m. Miami time) and the plane returned to the airport at 12:10 p.m. (10:10 p.m. Miami time).

ANA is investigating the cause of the crack and has reported the incident to Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Boeing’s 737-800 model has been in service since 1998 and is recognized as an established workhorse in commercial aviation, known for its reliability and strong safety record.

The company has recently faced scrutiny over defects in a different plane model, the 737 Max 9, after a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight opened mid-flight on January 5, 2024, leaving a refrigerator-sized hole in the fuselage. The incident led the United States Federal Aviation Administration to ground the plane nationwide pending an investigation.