Delta windshield - April Fools?

Because it seems outrageous and the date of the story. I’m not a commercial pilot so have no idea what’s in the realm of the possible on those planes. Except snakes. Everybody knows about the snakes.
 
Not April fool's. Outrageous isn't the word I'd use either. Besides, this happened Thursday.
 

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It really happened. According to a Facebook group, after they replaced the windshield and made their way to DCA, they diverted to RIC due to holding/weather. Not a good day for the crew
 
And you think airlines would ‘April Fools’ a cracked windshield while in flight? Seriously, think about the reality of that a bit more.
 
It can and does happen. It happened on a commercial flight I was on in January. The windshield cracked and the cabin depressurized. The oxygen masks dropping down and following emergency descent made for some excitement in the cabin.
 
That pic looked like glass not plastic. Do they actually use glass in airliner windows?
 
RyanB said:
And you think airlines would ‘April Fools’ a cracked windshield while in flight? Seriously, think about the reality of that a bit more.
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Uh… two things:

1) it’s a news story not an airline’s pr
2) you may be new here on the internet, but word is not everything you read online is true…
 
Hengelo said:
Because it seems outrageous
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Not at all. Happens more often than you think. Most times its the outer layers that crack but there have been complete failures of record that provided some wild rides for a pilot or two.;)
Salty said:
Do they actually use glass in airliner windows?
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Yes. Mostly glass is used in the windshields due to the internal heating elements. And these type windows are extremely heavy due to their thickness.
 
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Hengelo said:
Because it seems outrageous and the date of the story. I’m not a commercial pilot so have no idea what’s in the realm of the possible on those planes. Except snakes. Everybody knows about the snakes.
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Windshields cracking happens more often than snakes happen.
 
Hengelo said:
Uh… two things:

1) it’s a news story not an airline’s pr
2) you may be new here on the internet, but word is not everything you read online is true…
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And if you used the Google machine a bit more you'd have found that multiple more credible sources reported this. And that it happened on Thursday March 31st
 
SkyDog58 said:
Why would you think it’s an April Fools?
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>>>Passengers boarded a new plane in Denver and continued on to Washington. Wright praised Delta for bringing the jet down safely, and said the airline was very accommodating.<<<

^I will admit that part of the story was a bit suspect...
 
Brad Z said:
>>>Passengers boarded a new plane in Denver and continued on to Washington. Wright praised Delta for bringing the jet down safely, and said the airline was very accommodating.<<<

^I will admit that part of the story was a bit suspect...
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How do we know it was really a different jet?
 
Racerx said:
How do we know it was really a different jet?
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From a quote in the article, they were only on the ground for three hours. Do you think they could have gotten a replacement windshield and replaced it in three hours? I don’t. More likely Delta did a tail swap.
 
Racerx said:
How do we know it was really a different jet?
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From a quote in the article, they were only on the ground for three hours. Do you think they could have gotten a replacement windshield and replaced it in three hours? I don’t. More likely Delta did a tail swap.
 
I know someone on that flight, they said the passengers were put on another plane and left hours later for the original destination. He was a VIP type and the pilot explained it to both him and his "handler" - this really happened as the article states. They missed their connection and were about 16 hours late for a meeting we had in a "country on the Mediterranean." Safety first.
 
SkyDog58 said:
From a quote in the article, they were only on the ground for three hours. Do you think they could have gotten a replacement windshield and replaced it in three hours? I don’t. More likely Delta did a tail swap.
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Not good at showing sarcasm in person or apparently text.
 
Whole lotta love in this thread. Must be something special about April.
 
That story can really blow your hair back.
 
I once had a windshield fire. No kidding.

It was super cold and the gold layer in the glass laminate overtemped and flames shot out from the cracks!
 
IK04 said:
I once had a windshield fire. No kidding.

It was super cold and the gold layer in the glass laminate overtemped and flames shot out from the cracks!
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GTFO!
 
I had a windshield crack on me in a Shorts 330.

I’ve also picked up an Airbus windshield in Alabama and flown it to Boston for JetBlue in our Pilatus.

So yeah, it’s happens pretty regularly.
 
Bacho said:
I don’t know about fire, but arcing in the windshield is common.
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Arcing, smoke, and fire on occasions does happen with certain windshield systems. Its the windshield heat terminal block that is usually the source of the smoke and fire.
upload_2022-4-17_14-15-33.png
 
A heated windshield lives in a tough environment. It’s constantly cycled from hot to cold along with pressure cycles. They crack now and then but almost always the outer panel which is not structural.
 
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