Southwest Airlines Flight 2665 diverted from its route from Albuquerque to Baltimore to Tulsa, Oklahoma, after the crew reported a cracked windshield, according to the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration. The Boeing 737 was cruising at 37,000 feet when it turned south just over an hour into the trip on Monday.
The flight took off from Albuquerque around 2 p.m., about 20 minutes behind schedule, and was set to land in Baltimore about three and a half hours later. Instead, the plane landed safely in Tulsa, Southwest said, and passengers were put on another airplane that reached Baltimore around 11:30 p.m., about 4 hours late.
The aircraft involved, registered N265WN, was more than 19 years old. That detail does not point to a failure on its own, but it shows why investigators will want to look closely at how the problem developed and how the crew handled it. The FAA said it would investigate the incident.
Windshields on airliners are built with several layers so they can keep working safely if one layer is damaged, which is part of why the flight was able to continue long enough to land without incident. Even so, a cracked windshield at altitude is not a routine event, and the FAA’s review will determine whether anything beyond a mechanical failure needs to be addressed. For the passengers, the question was settled by nightfall: the original aircraft was off the route, the backup plane was in the air, and Baltimore arrivals were delayed but completed safely.
