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Well how often do cockpit windows of passenger aircraft crack?


From a 2022 report, trivially searched-for on Google:

> According to the Federal Aviation Administration, more than three dozen instances of cracked windshields have been reported by airlines over the past five years.

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article260551697.html


https://avherald.com/h?search_term=cracked+windshield&opt=1&...

Most of them are Boeing it seems:

  14x Airbus
  35x Boeing
  5x  Bombardier
  3x  Embraer


And until last year, most of the planes in the sky were also Boeing. And the Boeing planes in the sky, on average, are older.


For a fair comparison, this should be measured against flight hours per manufacturer


Takeoff/landing cycles, actually. Cruising at high altitude is much less rough on the airframe (including windows) than the strains that happen when changing altitude.


A quick search gave me 12K vs 10K planes. I couldn't find the actual hours or number of flights


Blatantly Overlooked Engineering Inadequacies, Now Grounded


Does Boeing also have more plans in service and/or more flights?


those don't mean much with out at least a "out of X planes from manufacturer Y"


The most infamous incident with a cockpit window is probably British Airways Flight 5390. An incorrectly installed window blew out, causing one of the pilots to be partially ejected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_5390


Here's a link to an Aviation Herald search for "windshield crack". Looks like a lot of bird and hail, but also a fair number of them just cracking.

https://avherald.com/h?search_term=windshield+crack&opt=0&do...

There are lots of Boeing on there, but unsure what the ratio of Boeing to Airbus there are in service. Certainly some Airbus on there as well.


This article from 2014, predating all of Boeing's recent failures, claims it is a regular occurrence and is also not always reported because it's a relatively minor thing to happen:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140507001219-90103575-crack...


A cursory Google suggests that it is not an uncommon occurrence.


~ weekly, globally.




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