Bolt from propeller smashes passenger window on flight to Vancouver

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      This is not what you expect when you take a short flight from Penticton to Vancouver.

      But according to a man identifying himself as Skips_LegDay on Reddit, his peace of mind was interrupted by a shocking incident.

      "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 declared on the website.

      In the comments section, he added that people around him sounded nervous. The pilot came by and assured him that everything would be fine.

      An Air Canada spokesperson told MailOnline that a 2.5-centimetre bolt came loose, but because it didn't affect the interior pane, it had no impact on passengers.

      The plane landed safely.

      Here's a close-up of the damage that the bolt inflicted on the window.
      Skips_LegDay

      Comments

      10 Comments

      cathy

      Nov 27, 2014 at 11:46am

      There are a lot of defective/old/worn out airplane parts being sold to airlines as new and installed as part of regular maintenance.
      It seems worn out parts that have put in their maximum flying time are finding their way into shipments of new parts and charged accordingly. They were supposed to be destroyed.
      It's a huge scam and millions are being made by unscrupulous people around the world.
      There appears to be no way to stop this.

      They can get around the tracking numbers that were to ensure all replaced parts are new
      Even worn out parts that should have been destroyed have been used on Obama's Airforce 1.

      With this bolt flying off and a week or two ago a door fell off a plane carrying Sting while in flight, you have to wonder, was this a result of old worn out parts being put on these planes? How safe is flying now?

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      Meatballs

      Nov 27, 2014 at 12:15pm

      Uh, that's a pressurized aircraft. The fact a bolt flew off the propeller is worrying enough in the first place but to embed itself into the window is very disturbing indeed. And is it just a coincidence that the Dash 8 that lost it's landing gear in Edmonton recently also lost all the blades on it's propeller too?

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      Gordon

      Nov 27, 2014 at 12:57pm

      The aircraft landing in Edmonton damaged the propeller because when the landing gear collapsed, the propeller hits the ground.
      Unintended contact with the ground can have quite a variety of conseqences

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      Adam

      Nov 27, 2014 at 2:07pm

      Actually it's not a pressurized aircraft....

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      cosmicsync

      Nov 27, 2014 at 3:14pm

      What makes you think the cabin is not pressurized, Adam?

      The article doesn't state what type of aircraft it is, but judging from the view of the turboprop out the window and reference to Air Canada, I would say it is probably a Bombardier Dash 8.

      According to Air Canada's info page for that aircraft:

      http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/fleet/dash8-300.html

      as well as specfications given by Bombardier, it cruises at 25,000 feet. If the cabin were not pressurized while flying at that altitude, the passengers and crew would suffer from the effects of apoxy, lose consciousness and die.

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      cosmicsync

      Nov 27, 2014 at 3:53pm

      Further to my earlier comment ...

      The Daily Mail article linked to in this one states that the flight number was 8353. According to flightaware.com, that flight on November 25 was made at 12,000 feet.

      http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA8353/history/20141125/1745Z/CYYF/C...

      Not surprising for a short flight from Pentiction. But I flew in a Dash 8 from Kelowna to Vancouver last month, in almost the exact same seat (had the right prop spinning right outside my window like Skips_LegDay) and that flight was made at 18,000 feet.

      So I stand by my belief that the cabin in a Dash 8 is pressurized.

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      Leah

      Nov 27, 2014 at 5:37pm

      I operate on dash 8 aircraft and no matter what, would it be 5000 feet or 25000 feet, it's pressurized. The cabin pressure allows the main cabin door to properly seal shut during flight.

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      Screw Loose

      Nov 27, 2014 at 7:54pm

      What brand of headphones are those?

      Outsourcing

      Nov 27, 2014 at 9:15pm

      Expect to see more questionable aircraft maintenance in this country. Both West Jet and Air Canada get their regular maintenance (more for jets though) done in Central America where labour costs are cheaper with less oversight. Anything to keep the profit margins. There are very few aviation jobs in this country now. Air Canada pretty well closed their aircraft maintenance at Vancouver airport about 3 years ago, 5 years after it had been separated from the main Air Canada company and purchased hangers in El Salvador.

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      Pat Crowe

      Nov 28, 2014 at 12:58am

      At least the pilot came by to say hay.
      Now, if it was the ancient red headed creature, we have "ALL" seen!
      Nothing good would have come of this.
      You would have felt small!
      And scared.

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