Southwest Airlines plane suffers cracked windshield while landing

The flight landed safely.Scott Olson / Getty Images

• Southwest Airlines flight 718 landed in Kansas City with a cracked front windshield on Wednesday, Fox affiliate Fox4 first reported.
• Southwest told Business Insider that the outer pane of the cockpit’s left-side window cracked during the flight’s descent.
• The flight landed safely and the aircraft was taken out of service for repair after the flight.
• “Aircraft windows are designed with multiple, redundant layers, and the cockpit window remained completely intact. The flight landed safely, and no emergency was declared,” the airline said.

Southwest Airlines flight 718 landed in Kansas City with a cracked front windshield on Wednesday, Fox affiliate Fox4 first reported.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737, landed at Kansas City International Airport around 6:30 pm, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware. The flight had departed from Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport.

Read more: I flew on Southwest Airlines to see how it compared to Delta and United — here’s what I discovered

Southwest told Business Insider that the outer pane of the cockpit’s left-side window cracked during the flight’s descent. The flight landed safely and the aircraft was taken out of service for repair after the flight.

“Aircraft windows are designed with multiple, redundant layers, and the cockpit window remained completely intact. The flight landed safely, and no emergency was declared,” the airline said.

Kansas City International Airport declined a request for comment.

In April, Southwest Flight 1380 made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after an engine exploded and blew out a window. One passenger was nearly sucked out of the window and later died. Seven other people were injured. The passenger who died was later identified as Jennifer Riordan, 43.

You can read Southwest’s full comment below:

On Wednesday evening, the outer pane of Southwest Flight #718’s left-side cockpit window cracked upon descent into Kansas City International Airport (MCI). Aircraft windows are designed with multiple, redundant layers of panes, and the cockpit window remained completely intact. The flight landed safely, and no emergency was declared.  Finally, the aircraft was taken out of service for a routine window repair, and Customers on the next scheduled flight were accommodated on a replacement aircraft.