Sun Shades on cockpit window melting

[PlanetEarth]

Hello,

A news story is making the rounds these days, about a cockpit window melting and deforming, partly due to a pilot using a non certified sun shade on his side window.

https://safetyfirst.airbus.com/use-of-non-certified-equipment-on-cockpit-windows/

I must admit, I have used similar sun shades myself, when flying with the sun in my face on longer sectors.

From the safety first article, what I understand is that the window had a fault with the heating element, and the sun shade prevented proper cooling.

Anyone else using sun shades who are having second thoughts ?

[STBYRUD]

I've stopped blocking the view with anything other than the transparent OEM sunshades in the Boeing after a near miss with a C-17 with its transponder off on descent to Djibouti... Somehow made me a firm believer of maintaining a lookout

[non_state_actor]

This is from the referenced Airbus website:

Both glass and acrylic cockpit windows protect the flight crew against the most dangerous Ultra-Violet (UV) radiation (fig.7). There is therefore no requirement to use additional equipment to protect flight crew members against UV radiation.

I would be interested in how they came to this conclusion. I have spoken to medical specialists about this very issue and their opinion was you can still get sunburnt through the windows and you should be using UVA and B sunscreen.
It was also suggested to wear long sleeve shirts.

[PlanetEarth]

Originally Posted by non_state_actor

This is from the referenced Airbus website:


I would be interested in how they came to this conclusion. I have spoken to medical specialists about this very issue and their opinion was you can still get sunburnt through the windows and you should be using UVA and B sunscreen.
It was also suggested to wear long sleeve shirts.

yea I’ve heard similar thing, that it doesn’t block enough of one type of UV radiation for the windows to be enough protection by themselves.

Would have to find some protection that doesn’t attach to windows then I guess

[MechEngr]

I would add to the Airbus comments on suction cups - to make a suction cup effective and having a long hang time the material has to be particularly soft so it can conform to and seal off the tiny scratches that are almost invisible on every surface. To do this the makers use plasticizers that make the plastic even more plastic. These are liquids that are soaked into the bulk material prior to molding the suction cup. Add some heat and they unsoak, potentially into any other plastic material they are in proximity to, particularly when in direct contact.

The thin foggy film that forms on the inside of car windows is the out-gassed plasticizer that is used to soften molded vinyl, such as for car dashboards, and it is when that plasticizer is exhausted that the dashboards get brittle and crack.

From personal experience - I had a computer gaming joystick which I set on top of the flat top of a CRT. Over a few weeks of not using it the suction cups melted their way into CRT housing. due to the warmth driving the plasticizer from the suction cups into the molded case.