Electrical fire forces emergency landing of 787

[FAS]

Seattle times:

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES


A Boeing 787 flight-test plane made an emergency landing Tuesday at the Laredo, Texas, airport after an electrical-equipment fire. No injuries were reported.

The fire affected the cockpit controls and the jet lost its primary flight displays and its auto-throttle, according to a person familiar with the incident. The pilot lost some use of the flight and engine controls, which on the Dreamliner are electrically activated, the source said.

The smoke in the back of the cabin of Dreamliner No. 2, where a team of technicians sat at computer workstations monitoring the flight data, was first detected on approach to the Laredo airport after six hours of flying.

As the incident escalated, the pilot declared an emergency, landed the plane and activated the emergency slides.

"The aircraft landed at Laredo at about 2:54 Central Time," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford. "The aircraft was evacuated on the runway. They pulled the slides."

Flames were seen in the rear electrical/electronics bay, which is underneath the passenger cabin, said two people who were informed of the details.

"If this had happened at 25,000 feet, we might be talking about something much more serious," said a person close to the situation.

Boeing released few details about the incident Tuesday, and spokeswoman Lori Gunter said it's too early to speculate on the cause.

It's also too early to tell if this will affect the flight-test program and defer the Dreamliner's first delivery, currently scheduled for mid-February.

Boeing already faces an unprecedented delay of nearly three years due to supply-chain issues in building the jets.

A former Boeing test pilot, who asked not to be identified, said engineers should be able to find out the cause of the emergency fairly quickly.

A fire will leave "lots of evidence," he said.



"If it requires some sort of design change, that could certainly impact the flight-test program," he said.

On the other hand, it could also be a defective electrical box that overheated, in which case "they'll change it and move on," he said.

The troubled Dreamliner program is vital to Boeing's future. After a wildly successful sales period, the plane still has 847 orders on the books even after some cancellations from all the delays.

One of the jet's innovations is much more extensive use of electric systems.

On most airliners today, most flight-control surfaces and other vital systems are operated by pneumatic controls that use air channeled away from the engines.

But on the Dreamliner, most of the systems — including the hydraulic pumps that manipulate the flight-control surfaces, the brakes, cabin pressurization, engine-starting system and wing ice-protection system — are electrically operated.

Boeing touts this shift as saving energy and reducing the aircraft's mechanical complexity.

During Tuesday's emergency, a small power generator called the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) was automatically deployed. It typically kicks in only when both primary and auxiliary power sources are lost.

The RAT — a device like a small dynamo that drops down from the fuselage and generates power from the air flowing past the aircraft — provides sufficient power for flight controls and other vital systems in an emergency.

The test airplane took off from Yuma, Ariz., early Tuesday in search of hot weather for a test of the nitrogen-generating system that reduces the flammability of the jet fuel inside the wing tanks.

The system injects nitrogen into the space above the fuel as the tank empties; the fuel is more volatile when hot.

The plane originally had filed a flight plan to fly to Harlingen, Texas, but the pilots decided instead to land in Laredo because weather conditions there looked better for their test, Gunter said.

The FAA's Lunsford confirmed the plane had not been diverted due to the emergency.

He said the FAA will look into the incident with Boeing to determine the cause.

Ironically, the crew of technicians aboard the flight had been told in advance to wear warm clothing. The test they were doing during the flight required the air conditioners to be on full blast and the cabin was expected to get cold.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com

[FAS]

The test airplane took off from Yuma, Ariz., early Tuesday in search of hot weather for a test of the nitrogen-generating system that reduces the flammability of the jet fuel inside the wing tanks.

giá testato sul 747 con successo, ma troppo costoso per le compagnie aeree....

[albert]

Comunque pare che l'incendio abbia avuto origine dalle apparecchiature usate a bordo per i test, non da elementi strutturali dell'aereo.

ciao!

[Skip100]

bene!!!

[albert]

ehm... non vorrei fare scemare l'entusiasmo, ma il fatto che abbia avuto origine da un apparato esterno, che in un normale volo non sarebbe collegato ad una alimentazione, non deve farci dimenticare che

"The fire affected the cockpit controls and the jet lost its primary flight displays and its auto-throttle, according to a person familiar with the incident. The pilot lost some use of the flight and engine controls, which on the Dreamliner are electrically activated"

... e questo decisamente non è bene. I display primari si sono spenti, come l'auto-throttle, tanto che sono atterrati in VFR, estraendo la ram, e senza diversi strumenti..... I display di Cpt e F/O dovrebbero essere su due linee di alimentazione separate, così come i controlli, che dovrebbero almeno potere ricevere alimentazione da due separate linee elettriche, con un deviatore (anche manuale, eventualmente)....

ciao!

[arciere]

Comunque pare che l'incendio abbia avuto origine dalle apparecchiature usate a bordo per i test, non da elementi strutturali dell'aereo.

Da dove si evince?

[flyforever85]

ehm... non vorrei fare scemare l'entusiasmo, ma il fatto che abbia avuto origine da un apparato esterno, che in un normale volo non sarebbe collegato ad una alimentazione, non deve farci dimenticare che

"The fire affected the cockpit controls and the jet lost its primary flight displays and its auto-throttle, according to a person familiar with the incident. The pilot lost some use of the flight and engine controls, which on the Dreamliner are electrically activated"

... e questo decisamente non è bene. I display primari si sono spenti, come l'auto-throttle, tanto che sono atterrati in VFR, estraendo la ram, e senza diversi strumenti..... I display di Cpt e F/O dovrebbero essere su due linee di alimentazione separate, così come i controlli, che dovrebbero almeno potere ricevere alimentazione da due separate linee elettriche, con un deviatore (anche manuale, eventualmente)....

ciao!

Anche a me ha colpito questa cosa... il RAT dovrebbe comunque mantenere l'alimentazione ai displays altrimenti non so proprio come facciano i piloti ad avere informazioni riguardo al volo...

[FAS]

facile dare la colpa agli FTI

flight test instrument

[MarcoGT]

facile dare la colpa agli FTI

flight test instrument

In effetti

[albert]

Al momento non è certo cosa abbia causato l'incendio a bordo, nessuna causa possibile è stata confermata.
Boeing ha deciso di mettere a terra l'intera flotta di test, finché non saranno chiarite le cause di questo incidente.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/fligh ... unded.html

[b747-8]

ehm... non vorrei fare scemare l'entusiasmo, ma il fatto che abbia avuto origine da un apparato esterno, che in un normale volo non sarebbe collegato ad una alimentazione, non deve farci dimenticare che

"The fire affected the cockpit controls and the jet lost its primary flight displays and its auto-throttle, according to a person familiar with the incident. The pilot lost some use of the flight and engine controls, which on the Dreamliner are electrically activated"

... e questo decisamente non è bene. I display primari si sono spenti, come l'auto-throttle, tanto che sono atterrati in VFR, estraendo la ram, e senza diversi strumenti..... I display di Cpt e F/O dovrebbero essere su due linee di alimentazione separate, così come i controlli, che dovrebbero almeno potere ricevere alimentazione da due separate linee elettriche, con un deviatore (anche manuale, eventualmente)....

ciao!

albert, posso chiedere un chiarimento? Non dovrebbe esserci ridondanza nell'alimentazione degli strumenti di bordo di un aereo, intendendo come ridondante ad esempio un collegamento elettrico attivato proprio dalla RAT come linea di emergenza? O, per esempio, delle batterie o l'APU?

[FAS]

albert, posso chiedere un chiarimento? Non dovrebbe esserci ridondanza nell'alimentazione degli strumenti di bordo di un aereo, intendendo come ridondante ad esempio un collegamento elettrico attivato proprio dalla RAT come linea di emergenza? O, per esempio, delle batterie o l'APU?

devi sapere che mancano dei tasselli, ci sono delle incongruenze nelle varie notizie comunicate all'esterno...

[albert]

Comunicato stampa Boeing relativo all'incidente:
http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1513

"EVERETT, Wash., Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- During approach to Laredo, Texas, yesterday, airplane ZA002 lost primary electrical power as a result of an onboard electrical fire. Backup systems, including the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), functioned as expected and allowed the crew to complete a safe landing. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by Boeing.
The pilots executed a safe landing and at all times had positive control of the airplane and all of the information necessary to perform that safe landing.
Initial inspection appears to indicate that a power control panel in the aft electronics bay will need to be replaced on ZA002. We are inspecting the power panel and surrounding area near that panel to determine if other repairs will be necessary.
We have retrieved flight data from the airplane and are analyzing it in Seattle. This process will take several days. We are committed to finding the cause quickly but will not rush the technical team in its efforts.
The team was conducting monitoring of the Nitrogen Generation System at the time of the incident but there is no reason to suspect that the monitoring or earlier testing of that system had anything to do with the incident.
Consistent with our internal processes, until we better understand the cause of the incident on ZA002, we have decided to postpone flight test activities on other airplanes. Ground test activities will be conducted until flight test resumes.
Likewise, we cannot determine the impact of this event on the overall program schedule until we have worked our way through the data. Teams have been working through the night and will continue to work until analysis is complete and a path forward is determined."

[JT8D]

Altro comunicato di Boeing:

"EVERETT, Wash., Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing continues to investigate Monday's incident on ZA002. We have determined that a failure in the P100 panel led to a fire involving an insulation blanket. The insulation self-extinguished once the fault in the P100 panel cleared. The P100 panel on ZA002 has been removed and a replacement unit is being shipped to Laredo. The insulation material near the unit also has been removed.

Damage to the ZA002 P100 panel is significant. Initial inspections, however, do not show extensive damage to the surrounding structure or other systems. We have not completed our inspections of that area of the airplane.

The P100 panel is one of several power panels in the aft electronics bay. It receives power from the left engine and distributes it to an array of systems. In the event of a failure of the P100 panel, backup power sources – including power from the right engine, the Ram Air Turbine, the auxiliary power unit or the battery – are designed to automatically engage to ensure that those systems needed for continued safe operation of the airplane are powered. The backup systems engaged during the incident and the crew retained positive control of the airplane at all times and had the information it needed to perform a safe landing.

Molten metal has been observed near the P100 panel, which is not unexpected in the presence of high heat. The presence of this material does not reveal anything meaningful to the investigation.

Inspection of the surrounding area will take several days and is ongoing. It is too early to determine if there is significant damage to any structure or adjacent systems.

As part of our investigation, we will conduct a detailed inspection of the panel and insulation material to determine if they enhance our understanding of the incident.

We continue to evaluate data to understand this incident. At the same time, we are working through a repair plan. In addition, we are determining the appropriate steps required to return the rest of the flight test fleet to flying status.

Boeing will continue to provide updates as new understanding is gained. "

(http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1515)

Paolo