Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hebron, Kentucky 41048
Tuesady, December 26, 2000 17:29 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While climbing through 20,000 feet in visual meteorological conditions, the captain's windshield "shattered." The captain did not declare an emergency; the flight returned to the departure airport and landed uneventfully. The damaged windshield (PPG part number NP 139321-5, S/N 99018H7134) was removed from the airplane and initial examination revealed that the center ply was failed. The window was further examined in the presence of representatives of the NTSB, FAA, Bombardier, and PPG, at one PPG's facilities. A report of the damaged windshield prepared by PPG indicates, "The fracture originated 0.20 inch from the bottom edge and 3.8 inches from the center of the forward corner. The origin of the fracture was a peel chip that developed on the outboard surface in the bottom forward corner area. The initiation point of the peel chip damage was located 0.115 inch from the inner edge of the Teflon tape and 0.325 inch from the glass edge." The report also indicates that examination of the peel chip using a microscope, "...did not reveal any surface damage at the peel chip initiation point, nor was there any indication of manufacturing defects." No discrepancies were noted with the anti-ice heating system and sensing elements. Optical distortion check of the damaged window was performed which revealed, "There was no slope-line distortion apparent in the critical vision area. However, facilities were not available to perform a quantitative distortion evaluation." Residual visibility examination could not be performed due to the absence of a standard and prescribed method of evaluation. Manufacturing of windshield S/N 99018H7134 was completed on January 18, 1999; the window was installed in the incident airplane by Comair maintenance personnel on March 27, 1999, to replace the previous window which "shattered while sitting at gate power off." The incident window had accumulated a reported 4,422.8 hours and 4,526 cycles at the time of failure.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The inadequate design of the flight compartment windshield by the windshield manufacturer resulting in cracking of the center ply.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 12/26/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1729 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Hebron |
| Event State | KENTUCKY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 41048 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1651 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KCVG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 897 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.42 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 53 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11610 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Southern Region Opertions High |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 27 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 14 2002 9:31AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | AAI-100 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N729CA |
| NTSB Number | MIA01IA051 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Canadair |
| Aircraft Model | CL-600-2B19 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 7265 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 50 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | First Union National Bank |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 230 S. Tryon St., 9th Floor |
| Aircraft Owner City | Charlotte |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 28202 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | COMAIR INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | International Airport P.O. Box 75240 |
| Operator City | Cincinnati |
| Operator State | OH |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 45275 |
| Operator Code | COMA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KCVG |
| Departure City | Hebron |
| Departure State | KY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1719 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KGSP |
| Destination City | Greer |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 10 2002 12:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | -- |
| Medical Flight | -- |