An Icelandair flight makes an emergency landing in Quebec due to a cracked window

An Icelandair flight made an emergency landing in Quebec late Friday night after the pilots noticed that a cockpit window had cracked.

Reportedly, the plane should have made a quick descent to the ground – at one point, going down 26,000 feet in just 10 minutes. The flight departed Orlando, Florida, and headed for Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, before being diverted to Saguenay, Quebec.

Harrison Hove was on board the aircraft and stated that the passengers were not initially informed that the cockpit window had been broken by 20 centimeters.

"I was at the back of the plane stretching my legs … and suddenly, you hear a ding as if you hear the sign" fasten your seat belt. safety ", and two flight attendants immediately booked him to the front," he said. TV channel CTV reported on Saturday. "They did not run but it was fast."

Hove thought it was strange and said that he was feeling when the plane was starting to descend and that he was feeling his ears closing.

"The situation started to get a bit turbulent," he said, adding that he had quickly returned to his seat.

"It was pretty scary because we knew something was happening, but we did not know what," said Hove, adding that the crew had simply told them to do exactly what the pilots were asking them to do. During the intercom, the captain assured passengers that he was perfectly in control of the situation.

"Well, that increases even more the level of anxiety," Hove said. He noticed that a passenger sitting next to him was visibly shaking.

He said that they had not been informed of what had happened until the flight was off the tarmac. A passenger on board was a mechanic and was allowed to enter the cockpit to observe the size of the crack.

Phyl Durdey, an aviation expert, told CTV News Channel that once cockpit windows cracked, it was essential for pilots to lower the plane to depressurize the cabin and relieve the stress of the window.

"The plane was 35,000 feet … so there was a pressure differential between the outside of the plane and the inside," he said. "In the event of a structural failure, you do not want this window to be completely overwhelming."

Durdey added that based on what he had heard, the pilots did exactly what they were trained for.

He said that even if windows are rarely cracked, it happens. Windows are usually strong enough to stay intact after being hit by a bird or other shocks, he said.

The airline's Twitter account confirmed that flight FI688 was flying over Canada when pilots noticed the crack in the window.

Hello Solomon, Flight FI688 from Orlando to Iceland flew over Canada when pilots noticed a crack in one of the windows of the cockpit. In accordance with standard procedures, they headed for an airport near Bagotville.

– Icelandair (@Icelandair) October 20, 2018

At the time, Hove had stated that he did not know when the flight would resume, because the captain had told them "that it was impossible to fly in this aircraft (plane) until the repairs were made. would not have been made. "

But the airline's Twitter account said on Twitter that another plane would pick them up later on Saturday.

The 155 passengers and 7 crew members were taken to a hotel to rest and another plane will welcome them later in the day.

– Icelandair (@Icelandair) October 20, 2018

Icelandair said the crew had followed standard procedures and had been diverted to an airport near Bagotville, Quebec. The airline also said that the 155 passengers and seven crew members on board had been taken to a hotel to rest.

With records from the Canadian press