B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Type 2316
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
Climbing out between 10;000 and 12;000 feet I felt an impact from the Captain's side of the flight deck with a loud boom. Assuming that we hit a bird at approximately 260 KIAS; I advised ATC turned on the autopilot; and returned. We smoothly landed over weight and returned to the gate without incident.
During climb at approximately 10;500 we both heard and felt a loud bang noise coming from the captain's left side; below the window. We thought it was a possible bird strike. We decided to turn back and advised ATC. We ran all normal checklist and the QRH for off scheduled descent. We notice low air flow output from air vents. We requested ILS and accomplished an overweight landing (over by 10;000 lbs). Returned to the gate uneventfully. Maintenance found an issue on the Captain's side window when they pressurized the aircraft to approximately 2.5 PSI. They mentioned this had been previously reported on other aircraft but were never able to duplicate except this time. They recorded video of it popping and flexing.
B737 flight crew reported a loud bang climbing through 10;000 feet. Assuming a bird strike the crew elected to return to the departure airport. Maintenance found an issue on the Captain's side window when they pressurized the aircraft to approximately 2.5 PSI which caused popping and flexing.