TITLE : Airplane Windows

Maintenance Tips

How Airplane Windows Are Designed To Withstand Enormous

Stresses, And How They Can Fail
A troubling string of incidents involving aircraft window failures has caught public attention over the
past , including one where the cockpit windshield of a Sichuan Airlines A319 blew out at 30,000 feet,
and the tragic death of a passenger on a Southwest 737 when an engine failed, ejecting metal
shrapnel that shattered her window, causing her to be sucked partway out of the plane. It's raised
questions for many over the safety of aircraft windows. Here's what you should know about the rules,
standards and methods of design, and testing and manufacturing of these critical aircraft structures.

Effectively, airplanes are not so different

from submarines. Both involve structures
that have to withstand a stark difference
in pressure and temperature outside and
in. In both cases, the outside environment
is not hospitable to life. A tiny flaw or
weak point can quickly spread and lead to
tragedy.
Airplanes face other challenges. They
operate at very high speeds in an
environment where other flying objects—
birds or debris—may pose a threat.

All of these risks are considered in the rules and standards governing the manufacture of aircraft
structural parts and components.

The guidelines on various accepted methods of composition and stress testing of aircraft windows can
be found in the FAA’s AC (Advisory Circular) 25.775-1. For anyone who really likes to deep dive into
things like chemical treatments, material loads and other stress tests, this document is good reading
material.

In summary, the AC makes clear that aircraft

windows undergo the same degree of stringent
testing as aircraft fuselages or engines. They are all
built to be tough.

One of the world’s oldest manufacturers of

aerospace transparencies (windows) is PPG
headquartered in Pittsburgh. It was founded as a
specialist glass, paints, coatings and materials
manufacturer in 1883, and their first aircraft
windows were installed in 1926 on the Ford
Trimotor. They have placed high-performance

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panes on planes ranging from commercial aircraft to fighter jets and business jets and specialize in
flight deck windshields.

PPG labs developed an Opticor Advanced Transparency Material with advanced impact and crack
propagation resistance properties, which can be used in the manufacturing of both windshields and
passenger windows.

On the cockpit there are two primary purposes for the windshields. Number one, protect the crew
from the outside harsh environment and number two allow the crew to see outside and in doing so.
Getting to that, to protect the crew from the outside environment, the windshield has to be designed
to be structurally capable and safe.

Unlike many passenger cabin windows, flight deck windows are built with multiple plies of glass or
stretched acrylic material. There are two structural plies, each capable of withstanding the pressure
differential in the cabin. On the outside, there is a thin outer ‘face ply’ which also has a de-icing
element.

“On your car, in the back window, you’ll see those lines for defog or defrost, and the aircraft window
has something similar, It has a film on the outer glass that is electrically heated. Power goes to the film
and the film heats up and deices the window on the outside.”

Besides the wires that heat the window using electricity, there are also sensors to measure resistance
and to control the heat—so that the window never becomes too hot or too cool for operating limits.
The window heating system makes the necessary adjustments at varying altitudes and in varying
weather.

Stress Testing
Like engines, fuselages, and other external structures, windows must undergo bird strike tests. Bird
strikes are a serious problem for aviation, because we encroach on their airspace and have built
airports near natural habitats and migratory routes.

“Commercial aircraft are rated to withstand a birdstrike of a four-pound bird and anywhere from 250
to 350 knots,” Wright says. “That, in turn, is driven by the flight envelope of the airplane and where
the birds are in the airspace speed limits. For example, in the U.S. below 10,000 feet the speed limit is
250 knots. The aircraft may exceed that [speed] on descent and you build in a little more than the
minimum for safety requirements.”

Besides pressure, temperature control, and bird strike testing, aircraft windows area also tested for
chemical resistance to things like hydraulic fluid or jet fuel as well as abrasion including rust or rain
erosion.

3 “The windows have to withstand all of that, Not only that but they may be tested in different
contentions…where one of the structural plies is damaged, to determine and certify the fail-safe
aspect of the design.”

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Like other aircraft components, not every part undergoes destructive testing—that would mean that
no product would ever make it to the end of the line—but a new design must undergo all manner of
tests before the methodology for manufacturing that part is approved. Raw materials and lots also
have to have a sample part that is tested and destroyed in some way, to demonstrates that the build
that follows complies with the standards set in the specification.

Passenger Cabin Windows

While passenger cabin windows don’t have as much structural load resistance, forward force
resistance, or the same visibility provisions as cockpit windows, they do have to preserve the pressure
conditions in the cabin and they do have to have fail-safes. Most passenger windows are built from
separate panels with airspace between them, including a fail-safe panel which can protect the interior
even if the external panel fails.

Some modern aircraft cabins—like the ones on the Boeing Dreamliner—have multi-ply transparencies.
They are mounted on a composite fuselage which means they are built to withstand greater structural
loads.

Windshield Fasteners
Some aircraft windshields are fastened with bolts. Others use a clamping system, but both methods
are equally reliable.

“The Airbus A320 and A340 are clamped-in design, without bolt holes. Boeing aircraft, on the other
hand, are typically bolted-in designs. Both of them, just by virtue of the thousands upon thousands of
flight hours that we see, are perfectly suitable for the application. If you want to make the window an
integral part of the aircraft structure, then a bolted in design is the way to go because it transmits the
aircraft loads right through window. The window becomes a structural part of the front of the
fuselage. The alternative is to isolate the window from any possible loads being transmitted by the
aircraft. What happens then is that to you have to have a heavy metal fuselage build-up, or frame,
around the window to isolate it.”

When windows are damaged, they have to be

replaced, except in certain cases of very minor
damage—light scratches or scuffs—which must be
repaired by experts.

Pilots have a lot of say in deciding when a flight deck

window needs to be swapped out. The typical
service life of a flight deck window is ten years,
nearly of the rated service lifetime of most aircraft,
which is around 25 years. The majority of the aircraft
flying today are much younger than that. With
Passenger windows on Aeromexico Dreamliner
aircraft

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airlines buying more planes each year, the global

fleet is expected to stay young on average—under 15
years.

When things go wrong

It may seem strange to say, but a cracked passenger window that prompted an emergency landing of
a Southwest Airlines plane May 2 failed properly. With critical components, designers must engineer
in failure mode performance. A backup system has to take over when one system fails. The fail-safe
pane on this window ensured that when one pane cracked, it did not lead to a collapse of the other
inner pane or to cabin depressurization. This is not an operating condition, and the pilot did the right
thing by diverting the plane, but aircraft windows are designed to endure these unusual
circumstances.

The failure of a flight deck winshield on a Sichuan Airlines flight that sucked a co-pilot halfway out of
the flight deck is still pending investigation. All we can do is speculate. But that incident may not have
been caused by a window failure.

A Sichuan Airlines co-pilot was sucked

halfway out of an aircraft's cockpit when
its windshield shattered during a flight,
Chinese state media has reported.

"The situation was very critical. The

windshield was blown off at a 10,000-
meter-high altitude. The aircraft was in a
state of low pressure and a temperature
was minus 30 to minus 40 degree Celsius,"
Wenxue, a Civil Aviation Administration
(CAA) official, was quoted as saying by
state news agency Xinhua.

As reported by Flight Safety Australia, the industry newsletter published by Australia’s Civil Aviation
Safety Authority, the sudden cracking and explosive failure of the co-pilot’s windshield is similar to a
previous incident in 1990. In that case, investigators found a failure in maintenance where a mechanic
used undersized bolts to fasten a new windscreen.

Of course, what frightens people are events like the tragic death of Jennifer Riordan, who was pulled
through her window after an engine failure on a Southwest Airlines flight April 17, which also led to
cabin depressurization and an emergency landing. An event like this extremely rare.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) records show only 29 incidents involving aircraft
windows on aircraft operated by commercial airlines over the past decade.

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The reason aviation maintains such a strong safety record, though, is that every incident is studied
closely by independent investigators, by regulators and by manufacturers. The investigation will
consider all possible scenarios, and identify a root cause. Any changes that need to be made to avoid
something like this happening again will be made.

Why do aircraft allow sliding / opening windows in cockpits?

What purpose does it serve, and why the same can't be done for passenger
windows as well?

FAR 25 Section 773 - Pilot Compartment View requires cockpit windows to be openable (or some
other means to have clear windshield during precipitation) :

(b) Precipitation conditions. For precipitation conditions, the following apply:

(1) The airplane must have a means to maintain a clear portion of the windshield, during precipitation
conditions, sufficient for both pilots to have a sufficiently extensive view along the flight path in
normal flight attitudes of the airplane.

(3) The first pilot must have a window that—

(i) Is openable under the conditions prescribed in paragraph (b)(1) of this section when the cabin is not
pressurized;

(4) The openable window specified in paragraph (b)(3) of this section need not be provided if it is
shown that an area of the transparent surface will remain clear sufficient for at least one pilot to land
the airplane safely in the event of—

(i) Any system failure or combination of failures which is not extremely improbable, in accordance
with § 25.1309, under the precipitation conditions specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section.

(ii) An encounter with severe hail, birds, or insects.

Windows Vocabulary

1) Window Components
a) Aerodynamic Smoother (Aero-Smoother): Sealant applied during installation to fill the space
between the window and airplane structure. Also used as a moisture barrier on some
windows.
b) Edge Seal: Seal around the edge of the window assembly used to prevent moisture
penetration into the interlayer material.
c) Erosion Seal (Hump Seal): A type of Edge Seal that protrudes into the air stream.
d) Fail-Safe Interlayer: Interlayer that will hold the pressure loads if there is a failure of a
structural pane.
e) Fail-Safe Pane: A glass or acrylic pane that will hold the pressure loads if there is a failure of a
structural pane.

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f) Interlayer: A flexible transparent layer that bonds glass or acrylic panes together. It can
possibly be a structural component for pressure fail-safety.
g) Metal Insert: A thin piece of metal around the periphery of the window used to transfer
failsafe pressure or bird impact loads from the interlayer to the window installation fasteners.
h) Moisture Seal: Sealant that supplies a barrier to moisture around the edge of the window.
Pane: One layer of glass or acrylic in a window.
i) Pressure Seal: A rubber gasket that makes a pressure seal between the window and the
fuselage.
j) Slip or Release Tape: Transparent material embedded in the interlayer around the periphery
of some GKN (Triplex, XXX, Pilkington) manufactured windows. The internal tape is almost
transparent, but can include visible wrinkles, usually in the corners of the windows. PPG
manufactured windows do not have internal tape.
k) Structural Pane: A glass or acrylic pane that holds the structural loads of the window.
l) Urethane: A type of interlayer material.
m) Vinyl (Polyvinyl Butyral - PVB): A type of interlayer material.

2) Window Vision Terms

a) Clear View Area (Daylight Opening): The transparent area of the window for external vision.
b) Critical Vision Area (Zone I): The area of primary vision through the window that does not
include the Non-Critical Vision Area.
c) Decreased Visual Quality: A reduction of vision through the clear view area, which can cause
interference with the flight crew visual operations of the aircraft in the air or on the ground.
Damage to the window can result in decreased visual quality.
d) Non-Critical Vision Area (Zone II): A 2.0 in. (5.1 cm) band around the periphery of the window
measured into the clear view area.
e) Tong Marks: Small dimples or indentations that are sometimes on the surface of the
nonstructural outer glass pane and cause local distortion in the clear view area. These are a
by-product of the manufacturing procedure.
f) Visual Quality: The property of the window that allows visual operation of the aircraft in the
air or on the ground.
g) Deletion Line: An intentionally manufactured gap in the conductive heating film of the
window. The gap appears as a faded transparent curve or line connecting the bus bars at
opposing ends of the window Figure 603 sheet 3..

3) Electrical Components
a) Bus Bar: Two thin electrical conductors put on opposite edges of the window, and used to
transmit electrical current from the power wires to the conductive heating film.
b) Conductive Heating Film (Coating): A transparent metallic film located on a glass or acrylic
pane used to heat the window when electrical current is applied.
c) Power Terminal: The location where the wire bundle that supplies power for the window heat
is connected to the window.
d) Power Wire: A braided wire that connects the power terminals for the window heat to the bus
bars.
e) Sensor Terminal: The location where the wire bundle that supplies temperature sensor input
is connected to the window.
f) Sensor Wires: Thin solid or braided wire that connects the sensor terminals for the window
heat to the temperature sensors embedded in the window.
g) Solder Joint: Solder or a bonding application used to attach the power wire to the bus bar.

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h) Temperature Sensor (Thermistor): A sensor embedded in the window that has resistance that
changes with temperature. The WHCU uses the embedded sensor to control power to the
window and regulate temperature.
POST SB 747-56A2012; AIRPLANES WITH PART NUMBERS 141U4821-X, 141U4822-X, 141U4831-X,
141U4832-X
NOTE: The internal temperature sensors in the window are not used on 747–400 airplanes
and are not connected.

i) Thermal Switch (Hockey Puck Sensor): A Bi-metallic switch that removes or applies electrical
power to control the window temperature.
j) Window Heat Control Unit (WHCU): A device that constantly monitors window temperature
through the temperature sensors and controls the power to the window

Flight Deck Windows Damage Description

1. Arcing: An electrical arc is a discharge or short circuit across a discontinuity in a wire, bus bar,
conductive heating film, or other internal window components. Arcs usually occur near the
window bus bars, and are typically the result of moisture ingress. The heat from an arc can cause
dark brown or black burn marks on the bus bar and in the interlayer. It is also possible to see
small bubbles in the interlayer at the location of an arc. Arcs in the heating film away from the
bus bar can occur as a jagged line and is also known as a line arc (Example: Figure 606) (“lightning
bolt pattern”).

Figure 606

2. Crack: A crack is a break or discontinuity of the material. A list of descriptions of cracks by

material follows.
a. Glass Panes: Cracks in a glass pane will always grow to an edge or adjacent crack in the
window. (A line arc can be confused with a crack but one end typically stops in the center area
of the window.)
1) Non-Structural Pane - Cracks will look equivalent to smooth fissures perpendicular to the
surface and through the entire thickness of the pane. There are usually many cracks across
the glass surface (spider web pattern) of the pane. Cracks will not significantly decrease
visual quality. (Example: Figure 609).

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2) Structural Pane – The pane will break into many small irregularly shaped pieces, typically
no larger than 0.25 inch maximum dimension. Visual quality is significantly decreased.
(Example: Figure 609).

Figure 609

b. Interlayers :
1) Urethane – Cracks can occur in urethane interlayer around the outboard edge of the
window and at bolt hole
locations. The cracks are
usually in a network that
does not run parallel to
the edges of the window
and are usually in
random directions (also
referred to as crackling).
Urethane interlayer
cracks frequently occur
with white or yellow
discoloration. See also
moisture ingression.
(Examples: Figure 608).

Figure 608

2) Vinyl – Cracks that can occur in the vinyl interlayer around the perimeter of the
window and usually follow the edges of internal features, for example, the metal
inserts, bolt holes or slip tapes. The cracks are usually thick or broken lines
perpendicular to the window panes. It is possible in some extreme conditions to see
the vinyl interlayer as stretched or separated from the metal insert. (Examples: Figure
607).

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Figure 607
3) Scratch: The linear removal or displacement of material from the surface of a pane.
4) Chips: The removal of material from the surface of a glass or acrylic pane, usually from
the impact with a hard object. The descriptions that follow are a list of different types
of chips.
a. External chips:
1. Shell type chips are in the surface or edge of the pane. These chips have a
circular or curved shape with many fine lines or ridges that follow the outline of
the edge of the chip that give it almost the same shape of a shell. The width of the
chip is more than its depth.
2. “V” shaped chips have the shape of a sharp narrow "V". Depth of the chip is
equal to or larger then the width.

b. Internal chips:
1. Peel Chips - Chips that occur on the internal surface of glass panes. Chipped
areas have a curved, rough grained shape, and are easily seen in reflected light.
The chipped area can have small glass flakes, usually white. The view through the
window will distort through the rough surface of the chip. Usually the chips start
very small but can continue to grow with the continued use of the airplane.
(Example: Figure 605) Glass Pane Chips

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Figure 605

5) Delamination: Delamination is the separation of a pane or panes from the interlayer

internal to the window. Delamination looks like an air bubble that starts from the edge, is
flat, smooth, and has a circular edge. Delaminations can have an edge with smooth finger-
like projections. The delamination will cause a reflection of light when you look at it from
an angle to the surface of the window. A delamination can distort vision through the
delaminated area.
6) Moisture Ingression: A cloudy white or yellow haze internal to the window usually around
the periphery. It can follow wires internal to the window, along the bus bar and also in
areas of delamination. Long term exposure to moisture can lead to electrical arcing of the
heating system internal to the window
7) External Weather Seal Damage - Erosion and Cracking: External seals will degrade with
time because of wind, rain and UV exposure. Erosion or cracks of the moisture seal will let
moisture penetrate into the window laminate. Repair and maintenance of external seals is
necessary to get as much window life as possible.
8) Bubbles: Small isolated or irregular shaped voids in the interlayer internal to the window
not at the window edge. Bubbles can be the result of a damaged window heat control
system. Multiple bubbles together in a small group, or black or dark brown bubbles are an
indication of a damaged window heat control system.
9) Vinyl deformation: A section of the vinyl interlayer that is stretched or disconnected from
the metal insert.

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