757 Windshield Fires
Operators of hundreds of Boeing 757s would be required to conduct repetitive inspections of electrical heat terminals on windshields and to repair or replace windshields, if necessary, under an airworthiness directive (AD) proposed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The proposed AD, published in late April in the Federal Register and open for public comment until May 8, was developed in an effort to prevent smoke and fire on the flight decks of the affected airplanes.
The FAA said it has received reports from eight operators about nine events involving electrical arcing at the lower terminal blocks of flight deck windshields on 757s; four other reports discussed failures of upper terminal blocks. “More than one” incident involved open flames caused by arcing, the FAA said.
The agency said that in one reported event, the crew of a 757-200 experienced smoke in the cockpit, “followed by fracture of the inner pane of the first o…
