Window crack forces Southwest flight to quickly land in Cleveland

Passengers scatter after noticing crack, which affected one of three layers

CLEVELAND — Passengers on a Southwest Airlines plane first heard a loud pop and then scurried away when they saw a jagged crack in a window that forced the jet to land in Cleveland on Wednesday.

Some on board immediately thought back to just two weeks ago when a jet engine blew apart and broke a window in a deadly accident aboard another Southwest flight.

“It made you nervous because something like this just happened,” said passenger Paul Upshaw of Chicago, who was about two seats from the window. “We didn’t know if it was going to crack open.”

There were no reports of injuries after Flight 957 heading from Chicago to New Jersey landed safely Wednesday after making an abrupt turn toward Cleveland while over Lake Erie, according to tracking data from FlightAware.com.

Some of the plane’s 76 passengers told The Associated Press that the crew quickly checked the window near an emergency exit and handled the situation smoothly.

“People just started scattering,” said Upshaw, who added there was no yelling or screaming. “We didn’t panic.”

Dallas-based Southwest said that the plane was diverted to examine damage to one of the three layers in the window, but didn’t immediately release details on how it was broken. Photos taken by passengers and posted on social media showed one window with a large, jagged crack.

There were no other mechanical problems with the Boeing 737, which was taken out of service, Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Brandy King said. The plane was built in 1998, and King said it has flown about 40,000 “cycles” or flights.

The timing of the incident could hardly be worse for Southwest. Airline executives said they have seen ticket sales slow since the April 17 engine failure, which killed Jennifer Riordan, 43, of Albuquerque.