Narrative:

Enroute to vhhh; the first officer's right side window R2 window heat failed; causing the window to ice over approximately 2-4 inches around its entire periphery and into the critical vision area. We entered it into the log and sent several follow up messages to maintenance control about the problem. I checked the maintenance computer from my hotel the next day to find that vhhh maintenance had signed off the problem as 'check windows condition normal.' it is not 'normal' for the window to be cold to the touch and form ice as it did on this flight. It appears to be such a serious defect that MM 56-11-00 states; 'you must remove a window if the windows do not become warm when you apply heat.' I am concerned that our write-up was not given proper consideration and that the aircraft was subsequently dispatched with a defective window heat system. I called maintenance control and expressed my concerns. He stated that he would follow up. It is important that pilots be able to have complete trust in our maintenance function. Trust is eroded when maintenance attempts to 'pencil whip' fault write ups such as this. The window was seriously iced and it was obvious that the window heat on that window had failed. Yet; little if anything was done to resolve it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B747 Captain reports R2 window heat failure enroute and entered the problem in the aircraft maintenance log. The maintenance sign off was that the system ground checked OK.

Narrative: Enroute to VHHH; the First Officer's right side window R2 window heat failed; causing the window to ice over approximately 2-4 inches around its entire periphery and into the critical vision area. We entered it into the log and sent several follow up messages to Maintenance Control about the problem. I checked the maintenance computer from my hotel the next day to find that VHHH Maintenance had signed off the problem as 'check windows condition normal.' It is not 'normal' for the window to be cold to the touch and form ice as it did on this flight. It appears to be such a serious defect that MM 56-11-00 states; 'You must remove a window if the windows do not become warm when you apply heat.' I am concerned that our write-up was not given proper consideration and that the aircraft was subsequently dispatched with a defective window heat system. I called Maintenance Control and expressed my concerns. He stated that he would follow up. It is important that pilots be able to have complete trust in our maintenance function. Trust is eroded when Maintenance attempts to 'pencil whip' fault write ups such as this. The window was seriously iced and it was obvious that the window heat on that window had failed. Yet; little if anything was done to resolve it.

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.