Yak-40 of Kamchatka Air Enterprise Returned to Airport Due to Windshield Crack

The crew interrupted the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Tilichiki flight at an altitude of 5500 m

A Yak-40 aircraft, operating a regular flight from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Yelizovo Airport) to the village of Tilichiki, was forced to interrupt its flight and return to the departure airport. The reason was a crack detected by the crew in the right windshield heated glazing of the cockpit.

The incident occurred at an altitude of 5500 meters (flight level). The crew promptly reported the detected malfunction to the dispatchers and decided to return. The landing at Yelizovo Airport took place in normal mode, without incident. There were passengers and crew members on board — no one was injured, and no one needed medical assistance.

The Kamchatka Transport Prosecutor's Office has organized an investigation into the incident to establish the circumstances of the glazing defect and assess the actions of the crew and airline services.

Yak-40 is a reliable third-generation turbojet aircraft, widely used on local airlines in the Far East, including in the difficult climatic conditions of Kamchatka. Such cases with windshield cracks are extremely rare and are usually associated either with manufacturing defects or with operational factors (temperature changes, icing, mechanical stress).

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