Narrative:

Activated windshield heat (wsh) ten minutes prior to top of descent. Seconds later; annunciator panel illuminated 'wsh overheat' accompanied by strong odor throughout aircraft. Deactivated wsh until overheat (oh) light extinguished. Re-activated wsh. Wsh oh light illuminated again. Despite repeated attempts to sustain normal operation; wsh oh light re-illuminated at even minimal settings. Descending through FL240 autopilot disconnected. Attempts to reconnect accompanied by un-commanded right roll. With left windshield occluded; storm clouds interspersed throughout flight path; and the ap inop; considered switching pilot flying (PF) and pilot monitoring (pm) duties with sic; whose windshield was clear; possibly due to absorbed heat radiating from glare-shield (black) after prolonged flight with sun on right side of aircraft. Prior to assigning aircraft control to sic; checked to confirm normal operation of right side flight instruments: noted sic's eadi (electronic attitude direction indicator) indicated 'fatal failure.' aircraft type does not provide for electronic switching to bootstrap gyro signal from opposite side to inop side. Elected to retain aircraft control and PF duties until descended into continuous VMC. Sic performed pm duties and provided visual guidance to avoid cumulonimbus clouds (cbs). Slowed AC to 250 kts at 10;000 ft. At approximately 6;500 ft MSL; observed airspeed indication had increased to 280 kts. Corrected and continued flying by instrument reference until descending to approximately 2;500 ft (1;000 ft above pattern altitude); and continuous VMC; in vicinity of [the airport]. Then asked sic to take controls for landing.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Learjet crew reported encountering failures of the Windshield Heat; Autopilot; and Electronic Attitude Direction Indicator during flight. Crew continued to VMC conditions and landed uneventfully.

Narrative: Activated Windshield Heat (WSH) ten minutes prior to top of descent. Seconds later; annunciator panel illuminated 'WSH overheat' accompanied by strong odor throughout aircraft. Deactivated WSH until Overheat (OH) light extinguished. Re-activated WSH. WSH OH light illuminated again. Despite repeated attempts to sustain normal operation; WSH OH light re-illuminated at even minimal settings. Descending through FL240 autopilot disconnected. Attempts to reconnect accompanied by un-commanded right roll. With left windshield occluded; storm clouds interspersed throughout flight path; and the AP inop; considered switching pilot flying (PF) and pilot monitoring (PM) duties with SIC; whose windshield was clear; possibly due to absorbed heat radiating from glare-shield (black) after prolonged flight with sun on right side of aircraft. Prior to assigning aircraft control to SIC; checked to confirm normal operation of right side flight instruments: noted SIC's EADI (Electronic Attitude Direction Indicator) indicated 'Fatal Failure.' Aircraft type does not provide for electronic switching to bootstrap gyro signal from opposite side to inop side. Elected to retain aircraft control and PF duties until descended into continuous VMC. SIC performed PM duties and provided visual guidance to avoid cumulonimbus clouds (CBs). Slowed AC to 250 kts at 10;000 ft. At approximately 6;500 ft MSL; observed airspeed indication had increased to 280 kts. Corrected and continued flying by instrument reference until descending to approximately 2;500 ft (1;000 ft above pattern altitude); and continuous VMC; in vicinity of [the airport]. Then asked SIC to take controls for landing.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.