On October 4th, Titan Airways flight AWC-205Y took off, as scheduled, with a route from London Stansted Airport (STN) to Orlando International Airport (MCO). At an altitude of roughly 10,000 feet, the crew on board the Airbus A321-200N heard what they described as an unusual and excessively loud noise in the cabin. The plane was forced to abort its climb and return to Stansted Airport. Officials called the reasoning “substantial damage” to some of the plane’s windows.
How they got damaged (3 outer windows in total were missing or loose) was very unusual…read on.
Most people take airplane windows for granted. At best, they’re just a way to look out and see where you are or what you’re going over at any given moment (you do know about the lie flight attendants tell about what’s out the window, right?). But everything about them is well-planned:
With all that planning put into plane windows, how could outer windows suddenly become missing or loose? Apparently, it happens.
After the plane safely landed back in Standsted, it, of course, sparked an investigation.
According to The Aviation Herald, the 2.6-year-old aircraft was in a workshop for a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) visit between September 23 and October 2, 2023, where it underwent routine maintenance. Following that, as per The Aviation Herald, the sequence of events was as follows:
The aircraft was scheduled to embark on a multi-day charter away from base with a flight crew consisting of three pilots, an engineer, a load master and six cabin crew. The first sector was a positioning flight from London Stansted Airport to Orlando International Airport, Florida. In addition to the 11 crew there were nine passengers on board who were all employees of the tour operator or aircraft operating company. The passengers sat together in the middle of the aircraft just ahead of the overwing exits.
The aircraft departed a few minutes ahead of schedule and took off from Runway 22. Several passengers recalled that after takeoff the aircraft cabin seemed noisier and colder than they were used to. As the aircraft climbed through FL100 and the seatbelt signs were switched off, the loadmaster, who had been seated just in front of the other passengers, walked towards the back of the aircraft. He noticed the increased cabin noise as he approached the overwing exits and his attention was drawn to a cabin window on the left side of the aircraft. He observed that the window seal was flapping in the airflow and the windowpane appeared to have slipped down. He described the cabin noise as ‘loud enough to damage your hearing’.
The loadmaster told the cabin crew and then went to the flight deck to inform the commander.
At this stage the aircraft was climbing past FL130, there were no abnormal indications on the flight deck and the aircraft pressurisation system was operating normally. The flight crew stopped the climb at FL140 and reduced airspeed whilst the engineer and then the third pilot went to look at the window. Having inspected the window, it was agreed the aircraft should return to Stansted. The cabin crew told the passengers to remain seated and keep their seatbelts fastened, and reminded them about the use of oxygen masks if that became necessary.
The cabin was quickly secured and the flight crew initiated a descent, first to FL100 and then to FL90. They established the aircraft in a hold whilst they completed the overweight landing checklist, confirmed landing performance and briefed for the return to Stansted.
The approach and landing on Runway 22 were uneventful. Landing at 1151 hrs, the total flight time was 36 minutes. With the airport RFFS in attendance the aircraft taxied to the apron, where the passengers disembarked normally.
Having parked and shut down, the crew inspected the aircraft from the outside and saw that two cabin windowpanes were missing and a third was dislodged. During the flight the crew had only been aware of an issue with a single windowpane. The cabin had remained pressurised normally throughout the flight.
On November 3rd, the AAIB (Air Accident Investigation Branch) (they investigate civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and crown dependencies) released a special bulletin to explain what happened.
The windows had apparently been compromised before the flight by lights outside the aircraft that were being used for a photoshoot. The heat of the lights caused the problems.
“The day before the occurrence flight the aircraft had been used for filming on the ground, during which external lights had been shone through the cabin windows to give the illusion of a sunrise,” the special bulletin said, as per The Aviation Herald. “The lights were first shone on the right side of the aircraft for approximately five and a half hours, with the light focused on the cabin windows just aft of the overwing exits.”
“The lights were then moved to the left side of the aircraft where they illuminated a similar area on the left side for approximately four hours,” the report said. “Photographs taken during filming showed six sets of flood lights on both sides of the aircraft.”
The report continued with an explanation of what specifically had happened to damage the windows.
“The windows appear to have sustained thermal damage and distortion because of elevated temperatures while illuminated for approximately four to five and a half hours during filming activity the day before the flight,” according to the AAIB. “It is likely that the flood lights were positioned closer than 10 meters.”
The report also suggested the accident could have been significantly more serious.
“Whereas in this case the damage became apparent at around FL100 and the flight was concluded uneventfully, a different level of damage by the same means might have resulted in more serious consequences, especially if window integrity was lost at higher differential pressure.”
In other words, it was very, very wise to return to Standsted as soon as they heard the odd noise. All ended well, but that could have been a tragedy, had the plane flown high enough where the pressure could have blown the inner windows.
Click here for a PDF of the AAIB’s report, including photos of the windows in question, the plane with floodlights, etc.
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