A321, en-route, near Luton UK, 2023

A321, en-route, near Luton UK, 2023

Summary

On 4 October 2023, an Airbus A321 climbing out of London Stansted with the 18 occupants all seated towards the front of the passenger cabin was discovered to have several missing or damaged windowpanes on the left side towards the rear. The aircraft returned to land where damage was also found to one of the horizontal stabilisers. The window panes fell out because of damage by infrared energy emitted from high-intensity lights during a filming event the previous day. Four previous similar events were identified but it was found that knowledge of them was not widespread in the aviation community.

Description

On 4 October 2023, it was discovered during the climb that an Airbus A321 (G-OATW) operated by Titan Airways on a very lightly-loaded positioning flight from London Stansted to Orlando that several windows towards the rear of the passenger cabin were missing or damaged. A return for an overweight landing followed, and an external inspection also found impact damage to the lower surface of the left hand horizontal stabiliser.

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