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Old February 17th 07, 10:19 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.travel.air
Mxsmanic
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Default Epidemic of cracked windshields in KDEN, explanation unknown

Kev writes:

I don't believe the "wasn't impact" part. I lived in Denver for a
while, and when the winds whip up, stones fly around. Cracked
windshields and dust-storm-scarred paint can be quite common out
there.


Maybe. The news article implied that impact wasn't involved.

I was thinking of perhaps some sort of incredibly large temperature
differential, but surely no such differential on the ground could compare with
the differences seen at altitude, so that doesn't seem to explain it, either.

I also understood that most of the cracked windshields occurred on the ground;
only a few involved aircraft that were in the air.

I was under the impression that just about nothing could crack an airliner
windshield short of a transonic brick, but I may be wrong. On smaller
aircraft, I don't know. I suppose they have some sort of regular safety glass
for the windshields, but less fancy than that of high-flying jets (?).

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