2023-04 · NASA ASRS report 1995035
CRJ700 flight crew reported the outer layer of the left hand side window shattered during climb. The flight crew continued to destination airport and landed safely.
My CA (Captain) & I were flying from ZZZ to ZZZ1. Upon climbing from 12;000 ft. to 13;000 ft.; the outer layer of the left hand side window shattered. I took the aircraft and radios while the CA ran the QRH. We advised ATC of the issue; and decided to [requested priority handling]. We made sure that the QRH procedure was completed accurately and efficiently; along with all other checklists and associated operations of the flight; in order to complete the operation as successfully as possible.The crew before us wrote up the LH WSHLD HEAT for apparently sparking. I'm not sure if someone [from] maintenance looked at it or if the crew wrote it up on their own. I think it could be related to issue that occurred for us in flight.I think it's possible the window heat malfunction either caused the window to be a lot hotter than normal (shock cooling in the air); or that the issue with the window heat sparking could have potentially caused some kind of micro-fracture; that was made worse from the pressure as we climbed.
Arrived at plane this morning and ramp met me there to advise the plane was a return to gate earlier in the morning for maintenance reasons. Upon inspection of the AML; I found that it was written up for a left side window heater malfunction and had been deferred. The FO (First Officer) and I checked that the correct circuit breakers had been pulled and collared and agreed the plane was legal to fly. Shortly after takeoff climbing out of 12;500 ft. to level off at 13;000 ft. we both heard a loud pop noise and saw the external layer of the left side window had shattered. I called for the FO to take the flight controls and radios so I could run the QRC and QRH. We advised ATC of the problem and [requested priority handling] with them. I notified the FAs (Flight Attendants) and Dispatch of the situation and that we were continuing to ZZZ1. We rechecked the QRH to verify we had completed everything correctly and then continued the flight as normal. We landed safely with no other incidents.I called maintenance upon arriving at the gate and advised them of the issue. I told them it probably had something to do with the side window heater getting deferred earlier that morning.I believe the deferred window heater on that side window was the cause. The plane had been sitting in the sun until we arrived there and after rapidly climbing to 13;000 ft.; I believe the window cracked from the shock cooling of the outside air temperatures.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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