There was a minor commotion at the PGIA this afternoon when the windshield on a United Airlines jet suddenly cracked.
7News has learned that the flight - coming from Houston - landed safely in Belize - and taxied to its parked position on the apron. But, when the pilot opened a window in the cockpit - the temperature change caused the windshield to spontaneously fracture.
It didn't shatter because the glass is multi-layered - but as this picture from the San Pedro Sun shows - it looked more or less like a car windshield that had been struck with a stone.
But there wasn't any stone throw here, best reports are that it was caused by a malfunctioning heater unit in the cockpit.
The plane couldn't fly like that - so the flight has been postponed for a number of hours while United brings in another aircraft. Aboard that aircraft will be a pane of glass to replace the broken one. That plane is expected to fly out later tonight.
