A flight was forced to return to the island after a large crack appeared on the aircraft’s windscreen on Saturday night.

The American Airlines flight to Philadelphia turned around about 45 minutes into its journey and reduced its speed because of concerns over pressure on the windscreen.

It landed safely at LF Wade International Airport before passengers were put on a replacement flight that finally arrived in Philadelphia at 11.10pm, 6½ hours later than scheduled

Passenger Ian Hind said the pilot had explained that the crack happened because a heating element in the glass had fused.

Mr Hind noticed the plane had completed a 180-degree turn, before the captain announced it had a cracked windscreen.

He said: “We went down to 200mph to take the pressure off the windscreen.

“It was very calm. The plane didn’t jerk or suddenly plummet. It was handled very calmly, straightforward and professional.

“After we got off and saw the crack for ourselves, there were a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ because it was potentially very serious. Had it imploded, the plane could have gone into a dive.”