United Windshield Explodes

I’d like to see a picture of the inside of that glass looks like. I’m not sure I’ve seen one that let projectiles loose on the inside of the cabin.
 
Bacho said:
I’d like to see a picture of the inside of that glass looks like. I’m not sure I’ve seen one that let projectiles loose on the inside of the cabin.
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From the story, they think there was an impact with (space junk, meteor, whatever), smashing the window.
 
If it did hit a falling Starlink satellite, you would think it would have traded paint, and that would be the evidence.

‘Rubbing is racing’
Nauga, probably
 
They paint satellites?
 
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The object did not penetrate the windshield, but glass fragments "exploded" from the inside surface of the glass, producing the pilots injuries. This happens when a car is hit by rocks dropped from overpasses.

From the size of the impact on not just the windshield, but the metal above it, that was a sizeable object. Years ago, the suspect would have been blue ice from a toilet.

Probably some contraband that eman tossed from his Super Mooney when he saw the space force approaching for a drug check.
 
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NorthEast Ohio said:
If it did hit a falling Starlink satellite, you would think it would have traded paint, and that would be the evidence.
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By the time the satellite hit ~35,000 feet, it would have been torn apart/scorched sufficiently to make identification difficult. Not impossible, just a real slow process. The more of the satellite left, the easier, but a larger piece would have done more damage to the Boeing.

Ron Wanttaja
 
NorthEast Ohio said:
If it did hit a falling Starlink satellite, you would think it would have traded paint, and that would be the evidence.

‘Rubbing is racing’
Nauga, probably
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I thought the starlinks were pretty small and would have burned up before reaching the lower atmosphere. But something hit that airplane. Probably the hawk that I just barely dodged on Friday. ;-0
 
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geezer said:
The object did not penetrate the windshield, but glass fragments "exploded" from the inside surface of the glass, producing The pilots injuries. This happens when a car is hit by rocks dropped from overpasses.

From the size of the impact on not just the windshield, but the metal above it, that was a sizeable object. Years ago, the suspect would have been blue ice from a toilet.

Probably some contraband that eman tossed from his Super Mooney when he saw the space force approaching for a drug check.
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There is a polycarbonate innermost layer that is supposed to stop the shards from happening.
 
kyleb said:
I thought the starlinks were pretty small and would have burned up before reaching the lower atmosphere. But something hit that airplane. Probably the hawk that I just barely dodged on Friday. ;-0
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I just looked it up. The starlink satellites are much larger than I thought. 500+ lbs for the small ones, about 3x that for the larger ones. For whatever reason, I thought they were much smaller.
 
Imagine cruising along, bored out of your mind, thinking about meowing on guard.... and WHAM the windshield shatters. Time for new shorts. Lucky it caught the frame from the looks of out.
 
Yep… launching weather balloons is kinda like blindly firing a rifle into the air. You’re probably not gonna hit anything, but do it enough and the probabilities stack up.
 
The odds of an airliner at altitude taking it right in the windshield. Maybe its happened before, but I can't recall ever hearing of it. Imagine it had gone into an engine or something even more critical.
 
Is radar unable to see the balloons? If so, how hard would it be to add a passive radar reflector?
 
I've been involved with shooting at armor for decades, developing both ballistic protective windows, and opaque armor products. Bottom line: Edge hits are a b*tch.

The debris (fragmentation) causing the injury was likely caused by either the outer glass, and/or the polycarbonate layer(s) located on the inside edges of the window being moved inwards in milliseconds, bending back the upper inside corner of the right window, and shattering.

The direct impact was (in part) located on the middle vertical support, evidenced by the peeling back of the skin just above the outer corner of the right side window inboard upper corner support structure. Had the impact struck the window a few more inches away from the edges, the window may have been penetrated, but the slope of the windshield reduced the severity of the impact's energy, turning it into a more glancing blow.

The collision material glanced off that corner and the energy delivered "popped" the upper inside corner window inwards, causing small fragmentation off the window's edges in that region to penetrate through the seam (widened during the hit) where the window meets the surrounding support hardware. Edge pieces of the window then sprayed into the cockpit as small fragments. Very lucky for all that the results weren't worse.

P.S. I remember hearing some ATC audio a few months ago regarding a commercial airliner hitting "something" while flying eastbound across the Atlantic ocean. ATC cleared the airspace in that region and warned all aircraft, then verified all aircraft had received the message. Never saw or heard about any followup.
 
Rick A said:
I've been involved with shooting at armor for decades, developing both ballistic protective windows, and opaque armor products. Bottom line: Edge hits are a b*tch.
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And, super notably, the protection did work quite well even in this case. Sure, it would have been cool if there had been literally no scratches on the crew, but this was still 99% a success.
 
172andyou said:
And, super notably, the protection did work quite well even in this case. Sure, it would have been cool if there had been literally no scratches on the crew, but this was still 99% a success.
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It would be interesting to learn if either pilot was wearing eyeglasses, and if yes, did any of the fragments hit the glasses?
 
Had a T-38 who narrowly missed a weather ballon while conducting a PAR at Miramar. Actually saw it on radar but didn’t call traffic because it didn’t look valid. No movement and a weak target. IP reported a near miss but thought it was a UFO. Upon further investigation, the Navy weather guys would launch their balloons about 3 miles east…right on final for 24R.
 
Bacho said:
I’d like to see a picture of the inside of that glass looks like. I’m not sure I’ve seen one that let projectiles loose on the inside of the cabin.
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There is at least one pic out there, I saw it somewhere, but I can't figure out where I saw it. It was a pic of the Capt. showing his right arm and it shows some of the cockpit and the windscreen in the background.
 
That picture is on Pprune. That is where I saw the damage picture of the outside of the plane, and damage to the aluminum.
 
Half Fast said:
Is radar unable to see the balloons? If so, how hard would it be to add a passive radar reflector?
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There isn't much too them (a few pounds, all up) so not so much payload capacity to add much in the way of reflectors or ADS-B without upping the size of it. But without altitude reporting, radar isn't of much use.
 
Half Fast said:
Is radar unable to see the balloons? If so, how hard would it be to add a passive radar reflector?
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About 20 years ago (hopefully ATC radar is better today) we were southwest bound receiving VFR advisories at 8500', just west of Norfolk, and east of Langley VA, when I caught a glimpse of something about a half mile ahead, and climbing.

A white colored weather ballon (I presume), maybe 8' to 10' in diameter passed about 100 yards off our right side, briskly climbing through our altitude. It was trailing a line beneath it attached to a box.

The controller gave no traffic call out whatsoever. The incident was a good lesson on how important it is to look outside the windows, which considering the electronic advances we now enjoy inside the cockpit, is becoming a lost art.
 
Dammit. Occam wins again. Space rock sounds so much cooler.
 
M20K said:
There is at least one pic out there, I saw it somewhere, but I can't figure out where I saw it. It was a pic of the Capt. showing his right arm and it shows some of the cockpit and the windscreen in the background.
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geezer said:
That picture is on Pprune. That is where I saw the damage picture of the outside of the plane, and damage to the aluminum.
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It's also in the first post of this thread.
 
Nothing to get lathered up about.
 
I have picked tiny glass fragments out of human skin. It is tedious and slow work, very unpleasant for the guy with the skin involved.

Related to the rocks from overpasses event.
 
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