Narrative:

I was given a line check on this leg. There was some scattered thunderstorms en route; so I turned the radar on. I could hardly paint any weather at all. I then did a radar test in accordance with the flight standards manual; and the radar did not test properly. I talked to the first officer about it and asked him if he wanted to call dispatch over the radio to let them know about it or if he wanted me to do it. At this point; the check airman jumped into the conversation and basically told me to take the airplane to our destination and talk to the oncoming captain if he wanted the radar written up before I did anything else. I disagreed with him; but couldn't change his mind about the issue. Being in a line check situation and getting close to start on the arrival; I chose to drop the issue. When we landed; we went to the hotel without having seen the other crew. Still uncomfortable with not writing the radar up; I called maintenance and they put a call back on the radar. I feel that this is a serious safety issue that has become more and more of a trend lately. Problems don't get written up for convenience reasons. The check airman's suggestion 'they may be on their last leg to the overnight' has nothing to do with whether the radar is broken or not. I was very uncomfortable with the check airman's suggestion; not only because of the radar; but because of the general trend within the company of not writing broken or badly performing items up for convenience and feel that it is becoming a very serious safety item when it gets taught. This was the second time I've heard this kind of remark and it makes me feel very unsafe.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ Captain reported that a faulty weather radar was not reported in the maintenance log following the flight because a Line Check Airman conducting a line check on that flight said to let the next Captain decide whether to report the radar in the maintenance log.

Narrative: I was given a line check on this leg. There was some scattered thunderstorms en route; so I turned the radar on. I could hardly paint any weather at all. I then did a radar test in accordance with the Flight Standards Manual; and the radar did not test properly. I talked to the First Officer about it and asked him if he wanted to call Dispatch over the radio to let them know about it or if he wanted me to do it. At this point; the Check Airman jumped into the conversation and basically told me to take the airplane to our destination and talk to the oncoming Captain if he wanted the radar written up before I did anything else. I disagreed with him; but couldn't change his mind about the issue. Being in a line check situation and getting close to start on the arrival; I chose to drop the issue. When we landed; we went to the hotel without having seen the other crew. Still uncomfortable with not writing the radar up; I called maintenance and they put a call back on the radar. I feel that this is a serious safety issue that has become more and more of a trend lately. Problems don't get written up for convenience reasons. The Check Airman's suggestion 'they may be on their last leg to the overnight' has nothing to do with whether the radar is broken or not. I was very uncomfortable with the Check Airman's suggestion; not only because of the radar; but because of the general trend within the Company of not writing broken or badly performing items up for convenience and feel that it is becoming a very serious safety item when it gets taught. This was the second time I've heard this kind of remark and it makes me feel very unsafe.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.