Plane propeller screw comes loose and smashes into passenger's window
A passenger on an Air Canada flight experienced a terrifying moment when a bolt loosened from the aircraft - and smashed into his window.
Reddit user SKips_LegDay posted the picture online, writing: "So about halfway through my flight I heard a loud POP, looked out my window at a bolt that flew off the prop and broke through the outer pane."
He had been trailing to Vancouver on an Air Canada Express flight when the screw came loose.
According to the Metro, he said: "I got up and went to the stewardess 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 cabin's pressurised.
"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."
Chatting about the picture to Reddit users, he wrote: "I had to stay behind and talk to the pilot, it's called a spinner bolt and there's 12 of them around.
"Update: 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."
A spokesman for the airline told the Mirror: "The bolt struck the exterior pane of two acrylic window panes which resulted in a small hole in the exterior window pane - the interior pane was not impacted.
"There was no emergency declared and the aircraft landed safely and without incident.
"This is a highly unusual incident and our maintenance personnel in Vancouver have inspected the aircraft and are making the necessary repairs. We do apologise to our passengers for any concern that this incident may have caused."
As well as number of comments about how much the passenger looks like actor James Franco, another user jokingly wrote: "Did the airhostess bring you new pants?"
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