Narrative:

While preflighting aircraft; the captain noted a 13' X 3' delamination directly in front of him in the windshield. A double check of the maintenance release showed no previous write up. He wrote the item up with the notation that the defect impaired vision. Our first questioning of the write up came from a line mechanic who stated if he deleted the reference to the vision problem; the aircraft would be able to continue. The captain stated that he wasn't refusing the aircraft; but that the defect did impair vision. Next; a maintenance supervisor came to the plane and again stated that if the write up was changed; the aircraft would be able to fly. Then a flight supervisor came onboard to talk about changing the write up. Next; a higher up supervisor on days off phoned the captain from home to talk about changing the write up.our airline today clearly advocates pilot pushing as the norm for day to day operations now. Threats from management are held over the line pilots' heads to try to get them to abdicate their responsibility to their passengers; their profession and the FAA rules governing safe operation of aircraft. If the FAA had been on board our flight; I submit not one of these managers or the line mechanic would have dared suggest the captain change his write up of the window. I had never before witnessed this level of disregard for safety at our company. I've now been involved in three instances of it in my last four times as a working employee for this airline. Two were on flights and one regarded our so-called transition training. This degree of pressure will lead to a weaker captain wavering and taking an aircraft that would otherwise be getting necessary repair. If this leads to an incident or accident; it won't be due to lack of notification to those who are charged with the safety of the traveling public.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot for a major air carrier described a specific instance of what he feels is deliberate; ongoing and purposeful pilot pushing by maintenance and flight crew managers to minimize disruptions to schedules due to necessary maintenance activities.

Narrative: While preflighting aircraft; the Captain noted a 13' X 3' delamination directly in front of him in the windshield. A double check of the maintenance release showed no previous write up. He wrote the item up with the notation that the defect impaired vision. Our first questioning of the write up came from a line mechanic who stated if he deleted the reference to the vision problem; the aircraft would be able to continue. The Captain stated that he wasn't refusing the aircraft; but that the defect did impair vision. Next; a Maintenance Supervisor came to the plane and again stated that if the write up was changed; the aircraft would be able to fly. Then a Flight Supervisor came onboard to talk about changing the write up. Next; a higher up Supervisor on days off phoned the Captain from home to talk about changing the write up.Our airline today clearly advocates pilot pushing as the norm for day to day operations now. Threats from management are held over the line pilots' heads to try to get them to abdicate their responsibility to their passengers; their profession and the FAA rules governing safe operation of aircraft. If the FAA had been on board our flight; I submit not one of these managers or the line mechanic would have dared suggest the Captain change his write up of the window. I had never before witnessed this level of disregard for safety at our company. I've now been involved in three instances of it in my last four times as a working employee for this airline. Two were on flights and one regarded our so-called transition training. This degree of pressure will lead to a weaker Captain wavering and taking an aircraft that would otherwise be getting necessary repair. If this leads to an incident or accident; it won't be due to lack of notification to those who are charged with the safety of the traveling public.

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.