Sichuan Airlines Airbus A319 Loses Windscreen

[srgalahad]

A rather eventful flight.
Crew observes inner windshield panel fracturing, diverts, then right-side windscreen blows out, injuring crew member, ripping out glareshield, damaging FCU and avionics.

Standard procedure of course is to get to breathable atmosphere ASAP but not when you're over the eastern Himalayas. One report indicated FL240 was the lowest initial altitude. It would be cold, noisy, with flying shrapnel and a lot of decisions to be made.

http://www.theavgeek.net/05/2018/jw...a319-loses-windscreen-crew-injuries-reported/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...r-cockpit-windshield-breaks-off-idUSKCN1IF0DR

 

[srgalahad]

Some additional details, courtesy of avherald.com

"The airline citing the CAAC Southwest Regional Administration subsequently released an event bulletin summarizing preliminary investigation results suggesting, that the aircraft was enroute at 9800 meters at 0.74-0.75 mach when the right hand windshield developed cracks, the crew received an ECAM message regarding the windshield heating soon followed by the windshield bursting. The first officer and a flight attendant received minor injuries (scratches). The flight crew applied the related standard procedures (emergency descent), the passenger oxygen masks were released. The flight crew was unable to establish communication with ATC due to the noise in the cockpit and thus signalled the emergency via the transponder. The windshield was still the original one, the aircraft had accumulated 19,912 flight hours in 12,920 flight cycles, no issues were outstanding on the day of the occurrence. The last C-check was on Mar 9th 2017, the last A-check on Apr 12th 2018. No windshield fault messages were recorded during the last 15 days. The investigation is continuing."