Bolt Crashes into Window Mid Flight

A bit of a concerning mishap on an Air Canada Jazz flight on Wednesday when Penticton resident witnessed a bolt come loose from the exterior and collided with the aircraft window.

On Wednesday, November 26th, Matt Langlois posted the incident to Reddit saying the bolt flew off the prop and broke through the outer pane on his window.

Photo Credit: Reddit User Skips_Legday

“People around me heard it and seemed nervous once they saw the source of the sound. I got up and went to the FA and quietly told her what happened, she came over to see it then called the pilot. He said it will be fine until we land as the cabins pressurized,” said Langlois. “Once we landed and people stopped snapping pics, the pilot talked to me for a while. Said he's never seen this happen in over 25 years of flying.”

“I had to stay behind and talk to the pilot, it's called a spinner bolt and there are 12 of them around,” added Langlois. “I saw the pilot again in the airport, says Bombardier has never seen this happen before. They figure the bolt must have been struck by the prop after dislodging since the rpms of the spinner itself isn't high enough to launch it that hard at the window. The bolt would have just been sucked into the slip stream.”

Justifiably anxious, Langlois said he spent the rest of his flight slumped into his seat.

Photo Credit: Reddit User Skips__Legsday

In a statement released from Air Canada, a communications representative corroborated Langlois statement on Reddit. The spokesperson also explained that the situation was a very unusual and isolated incident.

On the aircraft, a Dash eight-number 300, there are 12, 1-inch bolts on a 'prop spinner.' While on descent into Vancouver on Wednesday, the flight coming in from Penticton, had one of those 12 bolts come loose and strike one of the aircraft windows.

The bolt struck the exterior pane, one of two arcylic window panes, which resulted in a small hole in the exterior window pane. The interior pane was not impacted, according to Air Canada.

There was no emergency declared as a result of the impact, and the aircraft landed safely without incident.

“This is a highly unusual incident and our maintenance personnel in Vancouver inspected the aircraft and are making the necessary repairs.” said an Air Canada spokesperson. “We do apologize to our passengers for any concern that this incident may have caused.”