Boeing will increase the bird strike tolerance of its newly remodeled next-generation Boeing 737.
According to a statement issued by windscreen manufacturer PPG Aerospace, Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems has awarded the company a contract to design a new windshield that will keep loose glass from entering the flight deck in a bird strike event. The airframer announced changes to the 737 performance and cabin design at this year's Paris Air Show, with scheduled entry into service of the model by mid-2011.
The issue of bird strike protection was highlighted in the January ditching of a US Airways A320 after hitting a flock of Canada geese on departure from New York's LaGuardia airport.
Part 25 certification rules require that air transport aircarft be able to withstand impact at cruise speeds of a 4lb (1.8kg) bird on front part of the aircraft, including the windshields and wings, and an 8lb bird on the empennage. Bird experts say Canada geese typically weigh from 6 - 10lb.
For the windshield, manufacturers must either show by analysis or tests that the likelihood of the glass fragmenting as a result of the impact and hitting the pilots during the event is "of low order" or they must "have a means to minimize the danger to the pilots from flying windshield fragments due to bird impact," the regulations state.
In the case of the newest 737, Boeing appears to be taking the latter route. According to PPG, the redesigned laminated glass windshield will be "slightly smaller" and will include an inboard "antispall liner to prevent broken glass from entering the flight deck during a bird strike event".
"Boeing has asked for an alternate approach to bird-strike performance for the windshields that works structurally with the 737 airframe," says Art Scott, PPG Aerospace global sales director for commercial original-equipment transparencies.
"Adding an antispall liner to the windshields for Next-Generation 737 airplanes enables Boeing to keep the structural airframe design while incorporating newer technology."
Scott says PPG expects certification of the new design for the windshields in the second quarter of 2010. The windshields will be designed and manufactured at PPG's Huntsville, Alabama, facility for delivery to Wichita, where Spirit makes the fuselage for Boeing.
PPG will be the sole source of the redesigned windshields for production and aftermarket applications, says the company.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
