KLM passengers flown for 9-hours to nowhere after windshield cracks

KLM flight to nowhere after plane turns back.

 

A Boxing Day Brazil-bound KLM flight spent over nine hours in the air only for it to return back to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol after a windshield cracked in the cockpit.

 

Flight KL705, with a scheduled flight time of almost 12 hours, departed Amsterdam at 10:41 and was due to land in Rio de Janeiro at 18:20 the same day.

 

However, approximately four hours and 40 minutes into the flight, the right hand cockpit windshield cracked, resulting in a loud bang which could be heard in the passenger cabin.

 

As the plane flew over the North Atlantic Ocean, around 1,150 km south of the Azores, the pilots made the decision to return back to its Amsterdam hub as repairs there would be much cheaper and quicker.

 

The plane reportedly landed back in Amsterdam 9 hours and 10 minutes after takeoff.

 

Upon arrival at Schiphol, KLM transferred the passengers to a replacement Boeing 787 which departed for Brazil just under two hours later at 21:42.

 

The replacement flight arrived in Rio at 04:55 the next day, leaving passengers with a sore behind after they totalled 20 hours and 23 minutes in the air.