PC-12 Pilatus pilot reported a cracked windshield during cruise. Pilot elected to continue to destination and landed without incident.

Date: 2025-12 · Aircraft: PC-12 · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

PC-12 Pilatus pilot reported a cracked windshield during cruise. Pilot elected to continue to destination and landed without incident.

Narrative

I was flying at 20;000 ft in IMC and began to pick up light icing. The anti icing capabilities were already engaged. I heard the noise of ice pellets hitting the airframe and checked the wing and noticed a moderate accumulation of rime icing. I made a pilot report to ATC of moderate rime and requested a decent to 180. ATC gave me a descent to 17000. I began the descent and felt an unusual vibration I assumed to be ice on the prop. Then the windshield cracked. The plane remained pressurized and the glass held in place. I became concerned that the glass could fail and I would be blasted in the face so I switched my position to the copilot seat. The window was holding in place however and the plane was functioning fully normally otherwise. I elected to continue the flight due to widespread IMC and low IFR conditions along my route of flight while my destination was reporting 1000 ft broken ceilings. I was prepared to divert and declare an emergency if the windshield blew out but it never did and everything functioned normally for the remainder of the flight. I landed at ZZZ without incident.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.