FlySacto
Ale User
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2002
- Posts
- 345
Hi All,
Has anyone ever had or heard of a major failure of a windshield while in-flight in a light single? I lost a major portion of a windshield during flight today and thought I’d pass along my story to save some other poor soul some grief. I’ve asked repeatedly about changing this thing out for well more than a year due to poor visibility and have noticed cracks/crazing in the hazed out windshield for several months. It’s the original window going on 30 years and the owner and a mechanic thought there were only some scratches in the windshield. Lesson number one- Light scratches don’t shine brightly in the sun as you change viewing angles. During flight, a two-inch long "scratch" grew to cover a majority of the windshield in the course of 30 seconds and finally split the window allowing half of it to get pulled out into the slipstream. I brought the speed down under 75kts and extended flaps to 20 degrees. After five minutes I saw that I’d be <500 agl going into the airport over a densely populated area and initiated a reduced power climb to get to TPA. After a few moments, half the windshield began to pull free and soon departed the airframe while we were still out in the boonies. Lesson number two- This isn’t an approved flight configuration for most spam cans. I had control of the AC but noticed a distinct tendency to yaw and a definite change in the pitch feel. Winds were light and I got a straight in to the runway most aligned with our flight path. An airplane that would have stalled around 55 kts lost elevator authority around 65 kts with the disrupted airflow over the top of the wing. Lesson number three- Fly the airplane to the ground in a configuration that has shown itself to be flyable.
After the landing I called the office and had the owner/operator come see what had happened. He was pretty adamant that in his 30 years he’s never heard of a windshield failing without hitting something. Anyone able to pass along some stories to tell the boss? Lesson number four- Never fly an airplane that you suspect has a potential problem without hashing it out to the fullest extent, then if your not satisfied with the result of the conversation, or your gut tells you something is amiss, don’t fly the !@#$ing airplane! It’s your life and ticket to loose. I thought that this windshield was a potential problem and guess what, it became one to a greater extent than I thought possible. After a heated discussion with the owner, I told him that we both could learn something from this incident. He was convinced that there were only scratches in the windshield. If I had told him that I would no longer fly the AC because of a potential problem, he might have listened closer and grounded the airplane. Bottom line- Be Safe!
FlySacto
Has anyone ever had or heard of a major failure of a windshield while in-flight in a light single? I lost a major portion of a windshield during flight today and thought I’d pass along my story to save some other poor soul some grief. I’ve asked repeatedly about changing this thing out for well more than a year due to poor visibility and have noticed cracks/crazing in the hazed out windshield for several months. It’s the original window going on 30 years and the owner and a mechanic thought there were only some scratches in the windshield. Lesson number one- Light scratches don’t shine brightly in the sun as you change viewing angles. During flight, a two-inch long "scratch" grew to cover a majority of the windshield in the course of 30 seconds and finally split the window allowing half of it to get pulled out into the slipstream. I brought the speed down under 75kts and extended flaps to 20 degrees. After five minutes I saw that I’d be <500 agl going into the airport over a densely populated area and initiated a reduced power climb to get to TPA. After a few moments, half the windshield began to pull free and soon departed the airframe while we were still out in the boonies. Lesson number two- This isn’t an approved flight configuration for most spam cans. I had control of the AC but noticed a distinct tendency to yaw and a definite change in the pitch feel. Winds were light and I got a straight in to the runway most aligned with our flight path. An airplane that would have stalled around 55 kts lost elevator authority around 65 kts with the disrupted airflow over the top of the wing. Lesson number three- Fly the airplane to the ground in a configuration that has shown itself to be flyable.
After the landing I called the office and had the owner/operator come see what had happened. He was pretty adamant that in his 30 years he’s never heard of a windshield failing without hitting something. Anyone able to pass along some stories to tell the boss? Lesson number four- Never fly an airplane that you suspect has a potential problem without hashing it out to the fullest extent, then if your not satisfied with the result of the conversation, or your gut tells you something is amiss, don’t fly the !@#$ing airplane! It’s your life and ticket to loose. I thought that this windshield was a potential problem and guess what, it became one to a greater extent than I thought possible. After a heated discussion with the owner, I told him that we both could learn something from this incident. He was convinced that there were only scratches in the windshield. If I had told him that I would no longer fly the AC because of a potential problem, he might have listened closer and grounded the airplane. Bottom line- Be Safe!
FlySacto
One of the other instructors asked if it was with the PT-17 owner that I'm working with on his instrument rating. He ran off before I could choke him! 
