Boeing 787 grounded

[sharkbit]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Cracks in the windscreen of an aircraft are not that uncommon. At least one or two occurred a week on C-5s and C-17s where I was stationed they actually make a special kind of tape that can be used for certain kinds of cracks in lieu of replacing the entire section of windscreen.

Yeah, it is more common than people think. I've seen a couple of our King Airs come in with a shattered outer pane of the windshield. No structural proplems at all. Of course the pilots get real nervous and they cinch their shoulder harnesses up real tight and they spend a few minutes pulling their underwear out of their butt cracks.

Small cracks and delaminations may be acceptable depending on where they are. Most heated windshields of pressurized aircraft have an inner pane and an outer pane. Alot of times a crack or delamination in the outer pane is acceptable as long as the heat still works and it does not obstruct the pilot's view.