Narrative:

We were cruising at 35;000 ft when we got a level one windshield heat left fail. We pulled out the QRH and ran the windshield heat left fail level one checklist; followed shortly by a loud bang and the captains clearview front window was completely cracked and arcing badly. It was very difficult to see through the window for me; the captain; and we were very concerned about the arcing and possible fire. We pulled out the QRH for the windshield clearview aft window cracked or arcing checklist. Due to the arcing; QRH recommended avoiding icing and therefore we looked at the weather at [another airport] since it was very close to our position. It was VFR and good weather. We declared an emergency with center due to the arcing and possible fire from the windshield and asked for vectors to the airport. We contacted operations and told them we were diverting and got the airport information. We gave ATC all the fuel on board and souls on board and the fire trucks were alerted and waiting. I decided to have the first officer land due to the bad visibility I had with the cracked window. We landed uneventfully and the first officer did a fantastic job landing and helping through out the emergency. [We] taxied back to the ramp uneventful.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The pilots of a MD10 received a window shield heat alert and consulted the checklist; which stated to turn off the window heat. Shortly after; the Captain's window shattered; obscuring his vision. The crew consulted the checklist for a cracked or arcing window. They elected to divert to a suitable airport due to the icing restriction. The First Officer made an uneventful landing.

Narrative: We were cruising at 35;000 FT when we got a level one windshield Heat Left Fail. We pulled out the QRH and ran the Windshield Heat Left Fail level one checklist; followed shortly by a loud bang and the Captains clearview front window was completely cracked and arcing badly. It was very difficult to see through the window for me; the captain; and we were very concerned about the arcing and possible fire. We pulled out the QRH for the Windshield Clearview Aft Window Cracked or Arcing Checklist. Due to the arcing; QRH recommended avoiding icing and therefore we looked at the weather at [another airport] since it was very close to our position. It was VFR and good weather. We declared an emergency with Center due to the arcing and possible fire from the windshield and asked for vectors to the airport. We contacted Operations and told them we were diverting and got the airport information. We gave ATC all the fuel on board and souls on board and the fire trucks were alerted and waiting. I decided to have the First Officer land due to the bad visibility I had with the cracked window. We landed uneventfully and the First Officer did a fantastic job landing and helping through out the emergency. [We] taxied back to the ramp uneventful.

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.