AP Exclusive: 3 Boeing 777s have suffered windshield cracks; wiring problem blamed

SFGate ^ | October 6, 2003 | LESLIE MILLER

[Larry Lucido]

Alitalia Flight 610 was over the Atlantic on its Rome-to-New York flight last July when the Boeing 777 seemed to shudder. Passengers smelled smoke.

The cabin crew ran up to the flight deck as passengers screamed, said Bruce Northrup, a New York City banker returning from a wedding with his wife and 15-year-old son. "People were yelling, `Tell us what's going on,"' he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

[Larry Lucido]

I hope the tail section is bolted down good, at least.

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[zencat]

Are they using square windows again?

[Larry Lucido]

Trapezoidal, if you ask me.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The windshields have always been square.

[Archangelsk]

Ping.

[Servant of the 9]

The flight crew put out the fire with an extinguisher in three seconds and then brought the plane down to 10,000 feet. That reduced the difference between the pressurized cockpit and the thin air outside, said Bill Waldock, aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona. The danger at high altitudes is that the windshield could shatter and loose items or people could be sucked out, though that's never happened on a commercial flight.

If the windshield goes, I imagine the ram air effect would keep everything in the plane. The problem would be keeping a crew in the cockpit insteadof the tail.

And yes, a stew was sucked out of a 737 out of Hawaii a few years ago, when the top blew off.

So9

[Blood of Tyrants]

You are probably thinking of the problems with the passenger windows in the DeHavilland Comet of the 1950's.

[onedoug]

Airframes have always been a drag.

[Gunrunner2]

Rapid decompression is noisy, but no one gets suckked out of an aircraft due to a broken window. Being sucked out is a Hollywood fantasy, that is all.

Along that point, just to be clear, the stewardess wasn't sucked out, she fell out when the whole middle top half of the jet came off. Horrible.

[Paleo Conservative]

Are they using square windows again?

Why? Are square wind shields a problem?

[dts32041]

Has boeing been using the chicken gun again?

[Archangelsk]

And yes, a stew was sucked out of a 737 out of Hawaii a few years ago, when the top blew off.

Explosive decompression and structural failure. It was far more than getting sucked out, this poor woman became an "aerodynamic hammer". Also, the investigation concluded that due to the short flights and high cycle time of Aloha Airlines that there was additional wear and tear on the A/C than conventional airlines experience. NTSB report (.pdf format) is here: http://amelia.db.erau.edu/reports/ntsb/aar/AAR89-03.pdf.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I'll take the 777 over the MD-11 any day, it is the worst built of all american planes.

I wouldn't worry, I did 10 hours once on an Ilyushin 62M that was older than its pilots, that is a scary plane, ditto for Tu154 and Tu134.

[zencat]

"You are probably thinking of the problems with the passenger windows in the DeHavilland Comet of the 1950's."

Eyup. Isn't there a structural issue with sharp corners when they are continually pressurized and depressurized?

[Archangelsk]

Explained in Post 13. She was lodged halfway out of the airplane before the joints and the section gave way.

[Larry Lucido]

If they are, I hope they remember to defrost the chickens first.

[Archangelsk]

No, but GE does.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Square windshields were used on the supersonic Tu-44 passenger aircraft "The Concordski", but were changed to round in later models, I think they had some concerns about fatigue or something.

[avg_freeper]

I wonder if this section 41 is made in Wichita KS.