Narrative:

Aircraft X; at cruise FL380; instantaneous very loud complete shattering of window L1 captains forward window outer pane. I was flying and requested my first officer to request a descent to a lower altitude. After initiating the descent; I gave the airplane to my copilot so I can perform checklists. I requested my relief officers to return to the cockpit from the bunk to help. Since the aircraft seemed to be holding pressurization; and window was not deformed or showing signs of an air leak; we leveled off at FL200. We performed the window damage fwd left checklist; and turned off the window heat for that window which had already failed. I contacted dispatch; and [maintenance]. We all agreed the best option was to divert since the window and pressurization were holding; maintenance was available there; and another aircraft for passengers. We performed the fuel jettison checklist; notified ATC that we were going to dump fuel; and recorded our lat/lon for start and end; and the amount we dumped. We dumped enough to be just below max structural landing weight at landing. We notified ATC of the position; heading; wind; ground track and GS where we were dumping the fuel. We continued to ZZZ at FL200 uneventfully; landed and taxi to the gate. The crew worked well together in managing the work load; and we were all in agreement on divert plan.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B787 Captain reported the complete failure of the outer pane of his windshield which necessitated an en route diversion.

Narrative: Aircraft X; at cruise FL380; instantaneous very loud complete shattering of window L1 Captains forward window outer pane. I was flying and requested my First Officer to request a descent to a lower altitude. After initiating the descent; I gave the airplane to my copilot so I can perform checklists. I requested my relief officers to return to the cockpit from the bunk to help. Since the aircraft seemed to be holding pressurization; and window was not deformed or showing signs of an air leak; we leveled off at FL200. We performed the window damage FWD L checklist; and turned off the window heat for that window which had already failed. I contacted Dispatch; and [Maintenance]. We all agreed the best option was to divert since the window and pressurization were holding; maintenance was available there; and another aircraft for passengers. We performed the fuel jettison checklist; notified ATC that we were going to dump fuel; and recorded our Lat/Lon for start and end; and the amount we dumped. We dumped enough to be just below max structural landing weight at landing. We notified ATC of the position; heading; wind; ground track and GS where we were dumping the fuel. We continued to ZZZ at FL200 uneventfully; landed and taxi to the gate. The crew worked well together in managing the work load; and we were all in agreement on divert plan.

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.