Jet2 flight in emergency landing after 'windshield cracked' as aircraft diverted

A flight from Tenerife had to make an emergency landing at a UK airport after its windshield was cracked. Flight LS633 was forced to divert from Manchester due to the issue, according to flight tracking services.

The flight, which took off from East Midlands Airport, had to perform an unscheduled landing at the Manchester airport shortly after its ascent, scrapping travel plans of a two-and-a-half hour journey, following the alarming discovery.

The incident echoed one from December last year that sent shockwaves when images surfaced online showing a severely cracked cockpit windscreen after a plane was hit by lightning. A passenger aboard flight LM26, heading from Manchester Airport to Aberdeen, Scotland, revealed she was jolted awake from her nap when the pilots abruptly turned back, flashing the emergency code 7700.

The Loganair aircraft made its unexpected return to Manchester just 29 minutes following departure.

Morag McLeod recounted to The Mirror about her partner and herself, enroute from Houston, Texas, landing in Manchester around 9.30am, only to endure a long wait for their onward connection that afternoon.

She had mistaken the event for mere turbulence as she dozed off until her significant other, who suspected he saw "what looked like lightning", roused her from sleep just before the captain confirmed the aircraft's encounter with the electric bolt.

The passenger recounted their harrowing experience: "I was actually sleeping as we were a connecting flight from Houston. We arrived in Manchester airport at 9.30am and had to wait several hours for our connecting flight."

She added: "I felt what I thought was turbulence, however my partner knows a bit about aviation and he had seen what looked like lightning and he awoke me just prior to the captain announcing that the aircraft had been struck, my partner knew something wasn't right as the aircraft stopped ascending and began circling in the air which he believes was the aircraft circling Manchester airport awaiting clearance to emergency land."