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|
Attributes | |
ACN | 1210794 |
Time | |
Date | 201410 |
Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
Place | |
Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
State Reference | US |
Environment | |
Flight Conditions | IMC |
Light | Night |
Aircraft 1 | |
Make Model Name | A300 |
Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
Flight Phase | Cruise |
Route In Use | Other Controlled |
Flight Plan | IFR |
Component | |
Aircraft Component | Electrical Distribution Relay |
Person 1 | |
Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 115 Flight Crew Total 9500 Flight Crew Type 2500 |
Person 2 | |
Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 9000 Flight Crew Type 3000 |
Events | |
Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical |
Narrative:
Our flight was originally dispatched the night before with gen 2 deferred; gen 1 and APU operative. We flew the first two flights in this aircraft. Event flight was third flight after a layover. On descent from FL240; cockpit lights started changing; numerous flight control warning lights came on and ECAM began describing mostly flight control failures caused by seeming electrical failures. We had autopilots disconnected; dampers off; spoiler faults and pitch feel computer kicked off. Captain hand flew direct to the airport; first officer declared an emergency for possible impending electrical failure and began resetting computers and electrical systems. Dampers did come back on but autopilots did not function correctly; so we continued flight for high speed; emergency recovery. Several of the systems that the first officer reset had to be reset more than once to remain on. We had experienced minor electrical interruptions earlier in the flight but nothing that did not immediately clear according to normal operating procedures or without input from the crew at all. When this situation occurred at start of descent; it was clear to us that possible further loss of electrical systems might result in more serious systems failures and therefore justified declaring an emergency and landing as soon as possible. We advised each agency of our emergency status and requested priority landing. Throughout configuration; further electrical malfunctions did not occur; so we set up for normal configuration; visual approach (ILS was only available in raw data). We also advised tower that we would clear the runway on landing. After clearing the runway; we contacted ground control; who had us taxi to our parking location. After shutdown; we debriefed the fire chief; the mechanic on scene and completed the logbook writeup. The difficulty with our malfunction; of course; was the occurrence and reoccurrence of electrical faults causing flight control malfunctions. The fact that most of the flight control issues cleared up on resets indicates that an electrical system malfunction is causing their failures and probably something in the remaining left generator system (or APU) was causing those failures.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A300 flight crew reports being dispatched with the number two generator inoperative and the APU running. On the first two legs momentary ECAM messages are noted but quickly clear on their own. On the final leg during descent; multiple ECAM messages appear with some remaining and others self clear. The First Officer's flight displays and ECAM screen blank momentarily and the autopilot and yaw dampers disengage. An emergency is declared and a normal landing ensues; with no anomalies during the last ten minutes of flight.
Narrative: Our flight was originally dispatched the night before with GEN 2 deferred; GEN 1 and APU operative. We flew the first two flights in this aircraft. Event flight was third flight after a layover. On descent from FL240; cockpit lights started changing; numerous flight control warning lights came on and ECAM began describing mostly flight control failures caused by seeming electrical failures. We had autopilots disconnected; dampers off; spoiler faults and pitch feel computer kicked off. Captain hand flew direct to the airport; FO declared an emergency for possible impending electrical failure and began resetting computers and electrical systems. Dampers did come back on but autopilots did not function correctly; so we continued flight for high speed; emergency recovery. Several of the systems that the FO reset had to be reset more than once to remain on. We had experienced minor electrical interruptions earlier in the flight but nothing that did not immediately clear according to normal operating procedures or without input from the crew at all. When this situation occurred at start of descent; it was clear to us that possible further loss of electrical systems might result in more serious systems failures and therefore justified declaring an emergency and landing as soon as possible. We advised each agency of our emergency status and requested priority landing. Throughout configuration; further electrical malfunctions did not occur; so we set up for normal configuration; visual approach (ILS was only available in raw data). We also advised Tower that we would clear the runway on landing. After clearing the runway; we contacted Ground Control; who had us taxi to our parking location. After shutdown; we debriefed the Fire Chief; the mechanic on scene and completed the logbook writeup. The difficulty with our malfunction; of course; was the occurrence and reoccurrence of electrical faults causing flight control malfunctions. The fact that most of the flight control issues cleared up on resets indicates that an electrical system malfunction is causing their failures and probably something in the remaining left generator system (or APU) was causing those failures.
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.