Air New Zealand 787 Diverts To Hong Kong With Cracked Windscreen – Simple Flying

An Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 diverted to Hong Kong in the early hours of Thursday morning after a windscreen was suspected of cracking inflight. The Dreamliner was en route to Guangzhou from Christchurch while operating NZ1082.

According to Hong Kongs The Standard, the pilots suspected the windscreen had cracked and asked to make an emergency landing in Hong Kong. Flight tracking website RadarBox.com shows the flight was over the South China Sea and closing in on Hong Kong when it began to deviate from its normal flight path.

The operating Dreamliner, ZK-NZH, was to the west of the Philippines and cruising at approximately 41,000 feet when it slowly began to descend about 5,000 feet. Closer in to Hong Kong, the jet dropped relatively quickly to 22,000 feet and began circling over the sea south of the city.

The Standard reports Hong Kong ATC sent emergency responders out to the runway. However, ZK-NZH landed safely on runway 07R without injuries to anyone onboard. Twenty-four hours after the landing, the Dreamliner remains in Hong Kong.

Air New Zealand confirmed the incident. In a statement provided to Simple Flying, Air New Zealand Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer Captain David Morgan said;

Yesterday, one of our cargo flights bound for Guangzhou diverted to Hong Kong after the front windscreen cracked. While a cracked windscreen sounds extraordinary, there are actually four layers to an aircraft windscreen so there was no risk to the aircraft or anyone onboard.

Air New Zealand has operated regular freight flights to Guangzhou flying Auckland Christchurch Guangzhou Auckland service for over a year. The flights up to Guangzhou are usually tagged NZ1082 and run approximately four times a week. The return services to Auckland are NZ1085.

ZK-NZH is just over six years old and is one of 14 Dreamliners Air New Zealand operates. This is the first recorded incident involving the plane.

Air New Zealand recently snagged the top gong as the worlds safest airline. That rating was based on the number of crashes over five years and serious incidents recorded over two years. Also canvassed were audits from governing and industry bodies, government audits, industry-leading safety initiatives, fleet age, and COVID-19 safety protocols.

Air New Zealand scored the award because its safety protocols and recent record are immaculate. The only real blemish on the airlines record was the infamous crash on Ross Island, Antarctica, in 1979. Then, a chartered Air New Zealand McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operating a sightseeing flight crashed into the side of Mt Erebus, killing all 257 people onboard.

That was 43 years ago, and from a fatality and significant incident perspective, Air New Zealand hasnt looked back since. A look at Air New Zealands recent incident history reveals some relatively low-level problems that plague all airlines smoke alerts, computer issues, and engine hassles. There have also been some lightning strike incidents.

This weeks cracked windscreen incident adds to the handful of minor incidents recorded for Air New Zealand. However, being the type of problems all airlines experience routinely, they will have little impact on Air New Zealands now stellar safety rating.

On the flight was more than 24 tonnes of cargo. Captain Morgan said the plane was loaded with mostly perishable food items like stone fruit and seafood destined for Chinese New Year festivities.

On the ground in Hong Kong, the team were fortunately able to secure chiller space for the fresh produce while we worked on a solution. After exploring trucking options as well as options with our alliance and interline partners, the team secured space with a partner airline to make sure the cargo got to where it needed to be, Captain Morgan said.

Air New Zealand adds they are awaiting a replacement window from Boeing in Singapore. The airline advises ZK-NZH will return to Auckland once repairs are completed.

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Air New Zealand 787 Diverts To Hong Kong With Cracked Windscreen - Simple Flying