AfricaPress-mozambique: LAM flight TM315 bound for Maputo was forced to return to Pemba after a fault developed in one of the plane’s windows 40 minutes into the flight. “We felt the plane descending and started to panic,” one passenger reported.
The 77 passengers and six crew members aboard the Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) Boeing 737 flying from Pemba to Maputo early on Wednesday afternoon (June 9) experienced moments of severe disquiet as a result of a problem in one of the plane’s fixed cockpit windows.
“Out of nowhere, we felt the plane suddenly descending. We all started to get panicky and scared, and we didn’t have any information from the cabin. Then a flight attendant explained what was happening and told us we were going back to Pemba. When we got to Pemba, we found out that the pilot’s window broke,” one of the passengers interviewed by STV said.
“Decided without thinking too much”
Another passenger said that she sensed the entry of “a lot of air” into the aircraft, which began to tilt. “It was like that for a while,” she reported.
The Lusa news agency, citing the air traffic website Flightradar24, says the plane descended from 10,000 to 3,000 metres in altitude in about five minutes – as recommended, in order to balance the pressure in and outside of the plane – before turning back to Pemba.
LAM director João Carlos Pó said that the captain had noticed, in mid-flight, that the fixed window on his side had started to “delaminate” [meaning that some of the layers that compose the glass showed signs of peeling off].”He decided, without thinking too much, that it was a case of going back and assessing the situation on the ground,” Po explained.
At this moment, investigations are underway to determine the causes of the incident.
A photograph of the other front window, which was opened quite normally by the pilot after the plane landed in Pemba, was circulating on social media purporting to be the window which failed during the flight, information which was denied by a source from LAM.
According to the same LAM source, cited by Lusa, the LAM maintenance team deployed to Pemba replaced the fixed glass [not the one open] that was showing signs of delamination.
The passengers affected were rescheduled for transit to Maputo this Thursday (10 June).
