An A320 flight crew suffered a cracked windshield during arrival sequencing.

Attributes
ACN	942602
Time
Date	201104
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Window
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90 Flight Crew Total 24000 Flight Crew Type 5900
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 14000 Flight Crew Type 1050
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

Leaving holding fix on radar vectors to join [the] arrival; first officer saw crack develop in his forward windshield. The crack was not of the usual variety in that it did not spider web. This caused concern regarding structural integrity. We were in descent from FL250 to FL210 at the time of the incident. I advised ATC that we would be slowing and needing lower altitude due to the crack we had in the windshield. I also sent a quick ACARS message to dispatch. The dispatcher declared us an emergency aircraft and notified ATC accordingly.[flight management] guidance was to reduce differential pressure to 5 psi or below. When I pulled up pressure page we were at 5.8 decreasing; so we attained the needed differential pressure quickly. I briefed the purser on our situation stressing we were not in immediate danger and for the crew to prepare for landing with touch down in approximately 20 minutes. I then briefed our passengers on the situation and that they may notice the fire trucks following us after landing. We continued with SOP descent approach and landing. After securing aircraft at gate we made maintenance write up and were then met by flight management. We went to conference room and conferred with flight operations duty manager and ZZZ flight management. We decided that it would be best if we discontinued our identification and return home.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 flight crew suffered a cracked windshield during arrival sequencing.

Narrative: Leaving holding fix on radar vectors to join [the] arrival; First Officer saw crack develop in his forward windshield. The crack was not of the usual variety in that it did not spider web. This caused concern regarding structural integrity. We were in descent from FL250 to FL210 at the time of the incident. I advised ATC that we would be slowing and needing lower altitude due to the crack we had in the windshield. I also sent a quick ACARS message to Dispatch. The Dispatcher declared us an emergency aircraft and notified ATC accordingly.[Flight Management] guidance was to reduce differential pressure to 5 PSI or below. When I pulled up pressure page we were at 5.8 decreasing; so we attained the needed differential pressure quickly. I briefed the Purser on our situation stressing we were not in immediate danger and for the crew to prepare for landing with touch down in approximately 20 minutes. I then briefed our passengers on the situation and that they may notice the fire trucks following us after landing. We continued with SOP descent approach and landing. After securing aircraft at gate we made Maintenance write up and were then met by Flight Management. We went to conference room and conferred with Flight Operations Duty Manager and ZZZ Flight Management. We decided that it would be best if we discontinued our ID and return home.

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.