A B757 captain's windshield began arcing at about 12;000 ft and the outer pane shattered at 16;000 f...

Narrative:

During climb through approximately 10;000 ft; while on vector; the first officer noticed arcing in the captain's forward window at the bottom. I assumed control as pilot flying (PF) while the first officer ran the QRH. We asked and received permission to level at 16;000 ft; and noticed the arcing and delamination was expanding in length along the bottom and right side of the window. We requested immediate return to the departure airport and was being vectored for the VOR/DME approach; when the outer pane shattered. I transfer control to the first officer at that time; due to reduced visibility out my window. I notified flight control via ACARS that we were returning to the airport and called operations with the same info. ATC said they were going to (and did) call out airport rescue and fire fighting (arff). The only exception to the event was my failure to declare an emergency as required by the fom. We deemed it unnecessary due the fact that we were given vectors directly to the approach and the arff was called out. However; during post briefing we realize that a declaration of emergency is required for any deviation from destination or alternate.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 Captain's windshield began arcing at about 12;000 FT and the outer pane shattered at 16;000 FT; so an emergency was declared while the aircraft returned to land at the departure airport.

Narrative: During climb through approximately 10;000 FT; while on vector; the First Officer noticed arcing in the Captain's forward window at the bottom. I assumed control as pilot flying (PF) while the First Officer ran the QRH. We asked and received permission to level at 16;000 FT; and noticed the arcing and delamination was expanding in length along the bottom and right side of the window. We requested immediate return to the departure airport and was being vectored for the VOR/DME approach; when the outer pane shattered. I transfer control to the First Officer at that time; due to reduced visibility out my window. I notified Flight Control via ACARS that we were returning to the airport and called Operations with the same info. ATC said they were going to (and did) call out Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF). The only exception to the event was my failure to declare an emergency as required by the FOM. We deemed it unnecessary due the fact that we were given vectors directly to the approach and the ARFF was called out. However; during post briefing we realize that a declaration of emergency is required for any deviation from destination or alternate.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	994136
Time
Date	201202
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Window
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 210 Flight Crew Total 27000 Flight Crew Type 11500
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 180 Flight Crew Total 9000 Flight Crew Type 2150
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A B757 captain's windshield began arcing at about 12;000 ft and the outer pane shattered at 16;000 ft; so an emergency was declared while the aircraft returned to land at the departure airport.