An Air Canada flight departing from Edinburgh has turned around after declaring an emergency over the Atlantic Ocean due to a cracked windscreen.
Flight Details
Flight AC937 left the Scottish capital just before 10am, roughly 40 minutes behind its original schedule. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was set to touch down at Montreal-Trudeau Airport at 2.50pm UK time. However, approximately an hour into the journey, the crew activated the general emergency 7700 squawk protocol and turned back towards Scotland.
Incident Overview
Information from flight tracking application FlightRadar24 revealed the aircraft was travelling eastbound over the Atlantic Ocean, several hundred miles from the Western Isles coastline, at the time of the emergency. The flight returned over the Hebrides towards the central belt, making its way back to Edinburgh Airport.
A photograph shared on social media revealed a fracture on the left window of the pilots' cockpit. It remains unclear how long any maintenance work on the aircraft will require before it can potentially return to service, reports the Daily Record.
Emergency Protocol
Emergency response squawking 7700 indicates a general emergency has been declared. It can encompass various situations including technical or medical emergencies. The protocol enables air traffic controllers and ground teams to address the emergency in the most efficient way possible.
