Turbulence question

[goldox]

Last Tuesday afternoon, 2nd March a Canadair Challenger N721G flew over my house, I believe it had routed over Compton, and a while later pilot requested from London TMA controller a change in Flight Level due to turbulence.

Later, he notified London he was diverting (to Luton I think, was given runwas 08) due to a cracked windshield.

Just wondering, could turbulence/shaking cause the crack or is it more likely something hit it? I think weather was pretty clear, as in no hail etc. but unsure how to get weather reports for the time.

Also is there a website that would retrospectively track this flight? He just used registration as callsign.

Many thanx for any advice.:ok:

[FlyingVisit]

There's various reasons why this could happen, but weather would be most unlikely.

[Tinwacker]

Most likely reason for a modern window cracking is a window heating element shorting across the windscreen.
It would be the outer layer that has cracked so the pilot still has windscreen protection.
May have been the reason for requesting a lower altitude to reduce aircraft pressurisation felt on the screen.

TW