This can’t be good: Cockpit Fires

“Aviation Officials: Boeing Cockpit Fires Still Not Fixed
By Joan Lowy and Joshua Freed, Associated Press Writers
Manufacturing.Net - June 29, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. federal aviation officials have known for years that cockpit window heaters in some Boeing planes catch fire. But they haven't required airlines to fix the problem, even after dozens of incidents that unnerved pilots and, in some cases, forced emergency landings.

Pilots have complained about heaters that burned, smoldered or sent electric currents dancing across cockpit windows since at least 2002, according to an Associated Press search of a NASA aviation safety database. Safety investigators have traced the problem to a minor cause: a loose screw.

None of the reported incidents was deadly, but they were scary. Sometimes, flames would reappear after flight crews had blasted them with fire extinguishers. In many cases, the window heater would cause an inside ply of windshield to shatter into spidery cracks that obstructed pilots' view. Sometimes, pilots and instrument panels were sprayed with glass.”