Originally Posted by rowan

A cracked windshield wouldn't be impossible, but I'm wondering why they'd need to circle? Surely it would be more important to get it onto the ground as soon as possible. If it's a full tank fuel issue then they could have dumped it.

There was an incident with an aircraft in the late 80s (from memory) where a replacement windshield was not properly fitted, and one of the pilots was sucked out in mid air. They managed to hold onto his feet and he survived.

So what's the story with the model?