12 replies to this topic

[meb58]

On more than an occasion I am amazed by the technology that goes into both garden variety automobiles and F1 race cars. But I always come to a point where I am dumbfounded by the fact we still use a squeegee to clear a windshiled. Now, I cannot offer any other solution; the squeegee is simple and effective...but it has not changed much in 100 years.

What about an aero device that rams a layer of air just off the face of the window...a layer of air so dense water droplets cannot penetrate it...yes, what do we do when we stop? I dunno but the squeegee still bothers me...it's a little too Fred Flinstone-ish

[GeorgeTheCar]

Actually a bit of Rainx either applied by hand, in the washer or in the wiper does a lot of good.

Air is not going to doing anything with bugs or road dirt

Sometimes an old idea is still good!

[McGuire]

Please don't forget your replace your blades every 3^11 cycles.

[John Brundage]

or before they scratch the windshield

[Tony Matthews]

or before the juddering and groaning drives you mad...

[Bill S]

On the Cessna Citation I used to fly many years ago, they had no windscreen wipers but instead used bleed air from the engines. It kinda worked but made a hell of a racket when the power came up. It was only used on takeoff and approach to land, no need in flight as the airflow was plenty strong enough to keep the windscreen clean enough to see through.
On the 747 I used to fly more recently, they have windscreen wipers and they are also used on takeoff & landing. Heard about a chap that decided to them in the cruise at mach 0.86 and before the Flight Engineer could stop him, they ripped off and went past the tail at a substantial fraction of the speed of sound.

[OfficeLinebacker]

On the Cessna Citation I used to fly many years ago, they had no windscreen wipers but instead used bleed air from the engines. It kinda worked but made a hell of a racket when the power came up. It was only used on takeoff and approach to land, no need in flight as the airflow was plenty strong enough to keep the windscreen clean enough to see through.
On the 747 I used to fly more recently, they have windscreen wipers and they are also used on takeoff & landing. Heard about a chap that decided to them in the cruise at mach 0.86 and before the Flight Engineer could stop him, they ripped off and went past the tail at a substantial fraction of the speed of sound.

I'm sure you've heard about the jetliner that flew through the ash plume of a volcano, causing severe engine damage.

Lesser known fact is the pumice did a real number of the windscreens, the crew could barely see through them.

[Bill S]

I'm sure you've heard about the jetliner that flew through the ash plume of a volcano, causing severe engine damage.

Lesser known fact is the pumice did a real number of the windscreens, the crew could barely see through them.

Yeah the British Airways 747 that flew through the volcanic plume. We covered it a fair bit in the various safety briefings we did and so were pretty careful to stay well clear of any volcanic activity. I have flow quite a lot around that part of the the world and have seen a few out the window.
And yes the windows were badly damaged, they couldn't see out the two main front windows at all in fact, the Captain could only see out the 2nd window - I really would not like to have to land a 747 with just that window alone!

FWIW here's a volcano I flew near in the early 90's when I was on the Citation. It's Rabaul, in Papua new Guinea.



Did a couple of week's rescue effort from an airstrip just down the road. Ground rumbling, huge rocks getting thrown out of the caldera, etc.

[Lee Nicolle]

I used Rain X on my race car and it was pretty good but once you got too much roadgrime you had to use the wipers. Which are fairly average on the fast bits at over 160 mph!
And as was said the basic old squegee works better than anything else in most practical scenarios though they still give up with bugs on occasion. And RainX seems to make no difference with bugs!

[Bill S]

Quick thread side-track 'cause it's funny.
When I was doing the Malaysian 12-Hour races, sometimes when we took the car to the track for practice I'd get the job of driving to/from the track as we figured with me not being a local the Police couldn't take my licence off me, only glare at me for driving a racing car on the road.
Anyway, one afternoon I had to bring it back to the workshop and as it so often does in Kuala Lumpur it PISSED DOWN. So there I was, sitting in a race car in traffic with slicks on, the windscreen wipers barely keeping up and no heater box to demist the inside of the windscreen. So I had to take off my t-shirt to wipe it in front of me ....
I then realised, if I was pulled over my Mr Plod, I would have a bit of trouble explaining why a half-naked foreigner was driving a slick-shod racing car in the wet through the city in heavy rain. No reasonable or even unreasonable explanation came to mind.

[meb58]

Do I see a crack in thw windscreen? Had you been pulled over I might have liked being a fly on the walll

Quick thread side-track 'cause it's funny.
When I was doing the Malaysian 12-Hour races, sometimes when we took the car to the track for practice I'd get the job of driving to/from the track as we figured with me not being a local the Police couldn't take my licence off me, only glare at me for driving a racing car on the road.
Anyway, one afternoon I had to bring it back to the workshop and as it so often does in Kuala Lumpur it PISSED DOWN. So there I was, sitting in a race car in traffic with slicks on, the windscreen wipers barely keeping up and no heater box to demist the inside of the windscreen. So I had to take off my t-shirt to wipe it in front of me ....
I then realised, if I was pulled over my Mr Plod, I would have a bit of trouble explaining why a half-naked foreigner was driving a slick-shod racing car in the wet through the city in heavy rain. No reasonable or even unreasonable explanation came to mind.

[mariner]

Yeah the British Airways 747 that flew through the volcanic plume. We covered it a fair bit in the various safety briefings we did and so were pretty careful to stay well clear of any volcanic activity. I have flow quite a lot around that part of the the world and have seen a few out the window.
And yes the windows were badly damaged, they couldn't see out the two main front windows at all in fact, the Captain could only see out the 2nd window - I really would not like to have to land a 747 with just that window alone!

FWIW here's a volcano I flew near in the early 90's when I was on the Citation. It's Rabaul, in Papua new Guinea.



Did a couple of week's rescue effort from an airstrip just down the road. Ground rumbling, huge rocks getting thrown out of the caldera, etc.

I remember the BA incident and there was a funny follow on at the enginering cetnre in the UK where I worked. One of the very senior engineers was ex Rolls Royce and had worked on the RB211 big fanjet project. When the first morning radio news reported the incident all that was reported was that " all four engines had stopped and the plane nearly crashed etc".

When the RR engineer came in he told all of us that it " was impossible for all four engines to stop together" so the report must be wrong.

Ever since I have been VERY wary of all reliablity claims made by highly qualiifed engineers!!

[Bill S]

Do I see a crack in thw windscreen? Had you been pulled over I might have liked being a fly on the walll

Yes it's cracked. And yes we got it changed before the race ....... just before, from memory.

I remember the BA incident and there was a funny follow on at the enginering cetnre in the UK where I worked. One of the very senior engineers was ex Rolls Royce and had worked on the RB211 big fanjet project. When the first morning radio news reported the incident all that was reported was that " all four engines had stopped and the plane nearly crashed etc".

When the RR engineer came in he told all of us that it " was impossible for all four engines to stop together" so the report must be wrong.

Ever since I have been VERY wary of all reliablity claims made by highly qualiifed engineers!!

Yes that was was almost very, very unpleasant indeed. After seeing photos of the gunk accreted onto the turbine blades I'm surprised the engines started again. That incident was fortunate because unlike too many other aviation accidents we did not have to pay the price of blood to learn from it.