Created Friday, Apr 28th 2023 09:36Z, last updated Friday, Apr 28th 2023 20:53Z
An Avianca Airbus A320-200, registration N477AV performing flight
AV-234 from Medellin (Colombia) to Mexico City (Mexico), was climbing out of Medellin's runway 01 when the aircraft received a bird strike against the left hand windshield leaving the windshield apparently undamaged. With all indications remaining normal the crew continued the climb, the aircraft was enroute at FL360 about 40 minutes into the flight when the left hand windshield started to develop cracks prompting the crew to decide to return to Medellin. The aircraft descended to FL350 and entered a high level hold before commencing the descent towards Medellin, the cracks worsened during the descent. The aircraft landed safely on Medellin's runway 01 about 2:05 hours after departure.
A replacement A320-200 registration HK-5318 reached Mexico City with a delay of about 3.5 hours.
A passenger reported the crew reported they had received a bird strike during takeoff from Medellin impacting the captain's windshield, only at cruise level at FL360 cracks developed in that windshield prompting the return to Medellin.
The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Medellin about 30 hours after landing back.
The aircraft seen after landing:
Related Flight:
AV234, Twitter:
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