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B757 first officer describes the events leading up to the shattering of his forward windshield and the decision to divert.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 938412 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201103 |
| 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 | B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Cockpit Window |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe |
Narrative:
About 2 hours and 15 minutes into the flight I looked up and noticed a 5 cm bubble in the right forward windshield in the lower right quadrant. It had what looked to be a string about 50 cm long running from the bubble to the lower left edge of the windshield. At the lower left edge of the windshield there were two burnt marks. In the string; it looked like there may have been some liquid. I showed the captain and suggested we shutoff the window heat. He agreed; and I shutoff the window heat to that window. After about a minute I thought; warm window; some burning or melting; and very cold outside air. I said 'I wonder if it will shatter.' one minute latter - bang - it shattered. The captain took out the QRH. After reading the procedure; he decided if his windshield shatters it would be difficult to land the airplane and it would be more prudent to land the airplane. We declared an emergency and landed without incident. This was my first shattered windshield at the airline however; I have had three or four on the C-141.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B757 first officer describes the events leading up to the shattering of his forward windshield and the decision to divert.
Narrative: About 2 hours and 15 minutes into the flight I looked up and noticed a 5 cm bubble in the right forward windshield in the lower right quadrant. It had what looked to be a string about 50 cm long running from the bubble to the lower left edge of the windshield. At the lower left edge of the windshield there were two burnt marks. In the string; it looked like there may have been some liquid. I showed the Captain and suggested we shutoff the window heat. He agreed; and I shutoff the window heat to that window. After about a minute I thought; warm window; some burning or melting; and very cold outside air. I said 'I wonder if it will shatter.' One minute latter - bang - it shattered. The captain took out the QRH. After reading the procedure; he decided if his windshield shatters it would be difficult to land the airplane and it would be more prudent to land the airplane. We declared an emergency and landed without incident. This was my first shattered windshield at the airline however; I have had three or four on the C-141.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.