A failed inner pane of the captain's windshield in the middle of the ocean forced the flight crew to...

Narrative:

At FL360; after passing 30 minutes of light/moderate turbulence; noticed three semi circular cracks in captain's #1 window on inside pane. Quick ref manual consulted for cracked window. Book said to descend below 2 psi pressure and divert to nearest suitable airport. Dispatch; maintenance control; duty pilot and two flying first officers were consulted. The focus was on nearest part of the nearest suitable airport. Using immediate available data; it was determined that we didn't have enough fuel to return to our departure airport at 10;000 with the remaining fuel on board. ZZZ was nearest but didn't have much in the way of suitable. Billions of birds; little fire fighting capability; no passenger facilities; no maintenance.the window cracking was continuing and starting to chip at crack intersections. Failure appeared imminent. I made decision to divert to ZZZ. During landing at ZZZ; 2 bird strikes occurred. 1 bird caused damage to wing flap; 3 inch by 15 inch hole in flap. Rescue plane had to be flown in to pick up passengers and send in mechanics.I think dispatch needs to take a long look at the term: nearest suitable airport again. The window was failing and we will never know if carrying more fuel to allow a low altitude flight all the way back to our arrival would have been better. In the interest of safety for all concerned; I chose the most conservative course of action.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A failed inner pane of the Captain's windshield in the middle of the Ocean forced the flight crew to divert to the nearest suitable airport when fuel available precluded low altitude flight to more appropriate facilities.

Narrative: At FL360; after passing 30 minutes of light/moderate turbulence; noticed three semi circular cracks in Captain's #1 window on inside pane. Quick Ref manual consulted for cracked window. Book said to descend below 2 PSI pressure and divert to NEAREST SUITABLE AIRPORT. Dispatch; Maintenance Control; Duty Pilot and two flying First Officers were consulted. The focus was on NEAREST part of the nearest suitable airport. Using immediate available data; it was determined that we didn't have enough fuel to return to our departure airport at 10;000 with the remaining fuel on board. ZZZ was nearest but didn't have much in the way of SUITABLE. Billions of birds; little fire fighting capability; no passenger facilities; no maintenance.The window cracking was continuing and starting to chip at crack intersections. Failure appeared imminent. I made decision to divert to ZZZ. During landing at ZZZ; 2 bird strikes occurred. 1 bird caused damage to wing flap; 3 inch by 15 inch hole in flap. Rescue plane had to be flown in to pick up passengers and send in mechanics.I think Dispatch needs to take a long look at the term: NEAREST SUITABLE AIRPORT again. The window was failing and we will never know if carrying more fuel to allow a low altitude flight all the way back to our arrival would have been better. In the interest of safety for all concerned; I chose the MOST conservative course of action.

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.

Attributes
ACN	957396
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B747-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Oceanic
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Window
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 225 Flight Crew Total 30000 Flight Crew Type 11000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal

A failed inner pane of the captain's windshield in the middle of the ocean forced the flight crew to divert to the nearest suitable airport when fuel available precluded low altitude flight to more appropriate facilities.