A319 pilot reported the first officer's windshield inner pane shattered at FL200 during climbout. It...

Narrative:

Flight was 30 minutes late leaving gate due to aircraft being towed over. Preflight and takeoff were normal. I was flying the aircraft. We were on autopilot as we climbed through FL200 when the first officer's inner windshield shattered. It covered both pilots with small pieces of glass and continued to shatter and rain glass on the crew. We [advised] ATC and requested to return to ZZZ and [descend]. While descending the first officer got out the QRH and we went over the appropriate items. We were both wearing sunglasses at the time which I think helped save our eyes. I suggested the first officer put on his oxygen mask to keep the glass off his face and eyes. This he did. We were vectored back to ZZZ and made a VFR landing. We had the paramedics meet us at the gate to help clear all the glass pieces off of us. The chief pilot met us at the gate. He took us off the trip and had us go to a local hotel to clean off our clothes and wash the glass out of our hair. We did not hit a bird or see any defects in the windshield before this happened.structural failure of the inner windshield glass on the first officer's side of the aircraft. I have no explanation as to why this happened. I have been on the airbus for 17 years and have never seen this happen before.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 pilot reported the First Officer's windshield inner pane shattered at FL200 during climbout. It covered both pilots with small pieces of glass. The flight crew returned to the departure airport.

Narrative: Flight was 30 minutes late leaving gate due to aircraft being towed over. Preflight and takeoff were normal. I was flying the aircraft. We were on autopilot as we climbed through FL200 when the FO's inner windshield shattered. It covered both pilots with small pieces of glass and continued to shatter and rain glass on the crew. We [advised] ATC and requested to return to ZZZ and [descend]. While descending the FO got out the QRH and we went over the appropriate items. We were both wearing sunglasses at the time which I think helped save our eyes. I suggested the FO put on his oxygen mask to keep the glass off his face and eyes. This he did. We were vectored back to ZZZ and made a VFR landing. We had the paramedics meet us at the gate to help clear all the glass pieces off of us. The chief Pilot met us at the gate. He took us off the trip and had us go to a local hotel to clean off our clothes and wash the glass out of our hair. We did not hit a bird or see any defects in the windshield before this happened.Structural failure of the inner windshield glass on the FO's side of the aircraft. I have no explanation as to why this happened. I have been on the Airbus for 17 years and have never seen this happen before.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1377500
Time
Date	201608
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Window
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A319 pilot reported the first officer's windshield inner pane shattered at FL200 during climbout. It covered both pilots with small pieces of glass. The flight crew returned to the departure airport.