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An E-145 flight crew declared an emergency and diverted to a nearby airport when the outer layer of the captain's windshield shattered during a windshear induced altitude excursion while avoiding weather.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 974605 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201110 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | EMB ERJ 145 ER&LR |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying First Officer |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial |
| Experience | Flight Crew Total 1400 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
Due to weather in the area; we took a more southerly route. Upon leveling off at FL370 we encountered a strong updraft. In the process of getting control of the aircraft and getting us back to our assigned altitude; we heard a loud pop. We then noticed the [outer layer] of the captain's windshield had cracked. I called center to declare an emergency and requested a lower altitude immediately and direct to our destination. The aircraft remained pressurized as we descended and we had the airplane under control. I ran the cracked/impaired windshield checklist per the aom. During this time we noticed the windshield cracking more and more. I then made the decision to divert to an airport 50 NM off our left wing. I called our flight attendant and explained the situation and made a PA to the passengers. I called our dispatcher as well as our diversion station. We landed the airplane safely; taxied the airplane to the gate; and off loaded our passengers with no other problems. We never got a call from ATC about our altitude deviation; nor did we get any kind of TCAS alert. Local maintenance took the airplane back to the hanger to repair the windshield.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An E-145 flight crew declared an emergency and diverted to a nearby airport when the outer layer of the Captain's windshield shattered during a windshear induced altitude excursion while avoiding weather.
Narrative: Due to weather in the area; we took a more southerly route. Upon leveling off at FL370 we encountered a strong updraft. In the process of getting control of the aircraft and getting us back to our assigned altitude; we heard a loud pop. We then noticed the [outer layer] of the Captain's windshield had cracked. I called Center to declare an emergency and requested a lower altitude immediately and direct to our destination. The aircraft remained pressurized as we descended and we had the airplane under control. I ran the cracked/impaired windshield checklist per the AOM. During this time we noticed the windshield cracking more and more. I then made the decision to divert to an airport 50 NM off our left wing. I called our Flight Attendant and explained the situation and made a PA to the passengers. I called our Dispatcher as well as our diversion station. We landed the airplane safely; taxied the airplane to the gate; and off loaded our passengers with no other problems. We never got a call from ATC about our altitude deviation; nor did we get any kind of TCAS Alert. Local Maintenance took the airplane back to the hanger to repair the windshield.
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.