Airline Struggles to Explain Why Plane's Cracked Window Was Fixed With Tape
SpiceJet, a domestic airline in India, is apologizing to customers after a passenger snapped and tweeted a photo of a cracked window seemingly fixed with clear tape.
Hariharan Sankaran sat down in his window seat on a flight from Mumbai to Delhi this week and saw the window was cracked and covered with cello tape. He then tweeted at the airline asking, “Isn’t it a major safety concern? Anyone listening?”
Spicejet flight SG8152 (VT-SYG) Mumbai to Delhi flying (5 Nov 2019) with a broken window stuck with cello tape. Isn't it a major safety concern? Anyone listening?@flyspicejet @DGCAIndia pic.twitter.com/8gflCyEBcT
— Hariharan Sankaran (@mahamosam) November 5, 2019
The airline responded to the tweet writing, “Hi Hariharan, at SpiceJet, safety is our utmost concern and at no point in time does the airline compromise on the same.” It added, “We shall surely convey this to the concerned head for necessary action. The inconvenience caused is regretted.”
Sankaran followed up with the observation that, “If there is a cello tape pasted, means someone has seen it and aware of the situation.”
Cello tape is a heavy duty adhesive tape that is pressure-sensitive.
But, SpiceJet replied, once again assuring customers that though it looked jarring, the plane was never in danger.
“The purpose of the inner pane is to protect the window from scratches. The inner pane doesn’t carry structural pressurization loads. Please be assured that at no point in time was safety compromised," the airline said, adding that the window was repaired in the same day.
If by a very slim chance, the plane’s window had cracked mid-air, things would have gone south very quickly for passengers.
As The Independent explained, above 10,000 feet the plane would depressurize and there would be an immediate drop in oxygen for passengers. The plane would also become increasingly cold and, without immediate action from the pilots, could cause severe harm to passengers very quickly.
A similar event did occur in 2018 when a window on a Southwest flight cracked mid-air and partially sucked a passenger out the window, killing her instantly. Though, again, an event like this is exceedingly rare. Still, if you see something that makes you uncomfortable on a flight alert crew members immediately.
