strange one - 13 airliner windshields crack in/around Denver

Sulako · Post by **Sulako** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:20 am

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/02/17/w ... index.html

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Airlines were investigating why windshields on at least 13 planes cracked at Denver International Airport as winds of up to 100 mph whipped through the foothills in Colorado.

...

SkyWest Airlines reported cracked windshields on eight planes that were taking off or landing Friday as winds gusted up to 50 mph, spokeswoman Marissa Snow said. One plane's windshield cracked while it was airborne.

"Only the outermost layer was affected," Snow said of the windshields, which are made from multiple layers of glass.

SkyWest, a regional carrier for United Airlines, said the planes involved were the Embraer EMB120 Brasilia and Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet, though she did not immediately have numbers.

Two Frontier Airlines Airbus planes had their windshields crack while airborne, while two other windshields cracked while at the gate, airline spokesman Joe Hodas said.

In all instances the planes returned to the airport and/or made it to the gate safely. No emergencies were declared and no injuries were reported.

Hodas said it was unclear whether the high winds were to blame.

"It's not exactly unusual weather for Denver," Hodas said. "We don't know what it is... It's kind of a mystery at this point."

Spokesman Steve Snyder said windshields cracked on several different makes and models of airplanes from several airlines, though he did not immediately know which and how many. None of the pilots reported flying debris, Snyder said.

"Everybody is fairly baffled by it," Snyder said.

At least 55 flights were canceled and others were diverted.

The Kid · Post by **The Kid** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:29 am

Sully,

Ever experience this yourself? Anyone here ever had the windscreen crack on them in flight?

Kid

Ravioli Rocket · Post by **Ravioli Rocket** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:55 am

yup

chief · Post by **chief** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:35 am

4 of them

richardhead · Post by **richardhead** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:40 am

Only twice for me.

it'sme · Post by **it'sme** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:43 am

Anyone here ever had the windscreen crack on them in flight?

Yep.....2

yycflyguy · Post by **yycflyguy** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:49 am

It happens more often than one would think. It does scare the crap outta you when you are not expecting it! It is weird that so many planes experienced it around the same locale as normally it is attributed to uneven heating of one of the panes and is an isolated incident.

still_bluenoser · Post by **still_bluenoser** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:51 am

King airs are bad for it, windscreen heat control sometimes fails.

Turkey · Post by **Turkey** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:24 pm

Warning: Possible sarcasm: 13 in one day at the same place. Good thing it happened at the airline level. If it had happened at the charter level, that would have been 13 crews blamed for doing something wrong with the windshield heat.

Doc · Post by **Doc** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 6:46 pm

I've had the King Air go once. That's one strange happening though. I wait with bated breath for the findings?

Floats · Post by **Floats** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:30 pm

this is wierd, I am stuck overnight in Little rock Arkansas. I was on an american airlines 737 from Dallas to Toronto when we diverted here because of a cracked windshield

oldtimer · Post by **oldtimer** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:33 pm

Windshields crack all the time. Since it is not a safety of flight concern, progress towards a fix is slow coming. I do not have a link but a windshield cracked in a B200 inflight between Arkansas and Virginia last week and the flight crew screwed up big time. Dumped pressurization @ 27,000 ft and then tried to get oxygen. Lost conciousness and dived to 7000 ft, loosing one elevator and stab and 2/3 of the other elevator and wrinkled the wings. I saw a video and it looked like the wings were just shy of failure. If the windshield in a Beech cracks, it does not loose all structural integrety and will not blow in, especially if one follows the emergency checklist which says reduce pressure differential to between 2 and 4.6 within 10 minutes. Just slow down, go down and decide who will land the airplane because visibility out of the cracked windshield is zero. I was sitting in the right seat of a 350 when the left windshield cracked so we returned to Vancouver and I landed the airplane from the right seat. No sweat and no one was killed or injured. I will bet that the Denver problems can be or will be traced to sand or other hard substance blown by the wind and develops stress cracks.

twinpratts · Post by **twinpratts** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:41 am

Probably all came from the same factory...

specs · Post by **specs** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:42 am

twinpratts wrote:Probably all came from the same factory...

Counterfeits?

Siddley Hawker · Post by **Siddley Hawker** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:44 am

I've lost 3 or 4 on the F-27. Depending on whether it's the inner or outer pane, the response is a bit different, but generally it was to shut off the heat, reduce to 1 psi differential pressure and slow to the appropriate speed. The one that scared the shit outta me was the right hand sliding window. I had an inner pane go on me once with a helluva bang. The glass splintered and flew all over the place. I was eating lunch and had to throw it out cause it was full of glass.

Oldtimer it sounds like those guys on the KA got themselves into a peck of trouble for no reason.

Spinner · Post by **Spinner** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:58 pm

Beech 200 windshield makes the copilot feel a little more usefull in this case.

strange one - 13 airliner windshields crack in/around Denver

strange one - 13 airliner windshields crack in/around Denver

stranded