A B767 crew reported an electrical odor; similar to ozone; and descended to FL340. Shortly after lev...

Narrative:

Soon after we leveled off at FL380; from FL340; I noticed a lite acrid smell. Having just climbed; and only about 40 miles from thunderstorms on our right; I thought it could be ozone I was smelling. The first officer (first officer) soon noticed it also; and took out the QRH. Before we could finish the checklist the captain returned and; coming from the fresh air in the cabin and onto the flight deck; his first thought was electrical arcing. He replaced me in his seat and I turned up the dome lights and looked for smoke or popped circuit breakers: there wasn't any. I recommended we descend as per the ozone checklist to be sure that wasn't the cause. Shortly after our level off at FL340 the left gen off msg come up; along with the utility bus off msgs. We then began searching for a suitable alternate airfield to turn towards with this electrical emergency. ZZZZ was the nearest open field with VFR weather. A turn away from the weather and back towards ZZZZ was made. I returned to international relief officer duties: prepped their ipads for ZZZZ; read QRH steps for gen off procedures; and kept the fas and passengers informed. The captain did all of the flying and navigating. The first officer did all of the communications with ATC; read checklists; and backed up the captain. With only about 40 minutes from gen off until touchdown; we worked well in backing each other up and landing safely.the smell never decreased in strength and we wore our O2 masks from descent until landing. The side windows were opened once on the ground to clear the smell on the flight deck. The fas (flight attendants) never had the acrid smell in the cabin; and handled the passengers and emergency perfectly. The ZZZZ fire chief could not find a hotspot with his ir camera or any continued smoldering. Although one fireman said he saw some smoke when he opened the avionics hatch. We completely shut the plane down with the termination checklist; and went to the holding room where the passengers were.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B767 crew reported an electrical odor; similar to ozone; and descended to FL340. Shortly after leveling; the L GEN OFF alerted accompanied by utility bus load shedding. The flight safely diverted to a nearby international airport.

Narrative: Soon after we leveled off at FL380; from FL340; I noticed a lite acrid smell. Having just climbed; and only about 40 miles from thunderstorms on our right; I thought it could be ozone I was smelling. The FO (First Officer) soon noticed it also; and took out the QRH. Before we could finish the checklist the captain returned and; coming from the fresh air in the cabin and onto the flight deck; his first thought was electrical arcing. He replaced me in his seat and I turned up the dome lights and looked for smoke or popped circuit breakers: there wasn't any. I recommended we descend as per the ozone checklist to be sure that wasn't the cause. Shortly after our level off at FL340 the L GEN OFF msg come up; along with the utility bus off msgs. We then began searching for a suitable alternate airfield to turn towards with this electrical emergency. ZZZZ was the nearest open field with VFR weather. A turn away from the weather and back towards ZZZZ was made. I returned to IRO duties: prepped their iPads for ZZZZ; read QRH steps for GEN OFF procedures; and kept the FAs and passengers informed. The captain did all of the flying and navigating. The FO did all of the communications with ATC; read checklists; and backed up the captain. With only about 40 minutes from GEN OFF until touchdown; we worked well in backing each other up and landing safely.The smell never decreased in strength and we wore our O2 masks from descent until landing. The side windows were opened once on the ground to clear the smell on the flight deck. The FAs (Flight Attendants) never had the acrid smell in the cabin; and handled the passengers and emergency perfectly. The ZZZZ fire chief could not find a hotspot with his IR camera or any continued smoldering. Although one fireman said he saw some smoke when he opened the avionics hatch. We completely shut the plane down with the Termination Checklist; and went to the holding room where the passengers were.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1404555
Time
Date	201611
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Generator Drive
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 6294
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 96 Flight Crew Total 12079 Flight Crew Type 734
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

A B767 crew reported an electrical odor; similar to ozone; and descended to FL340. Shortly after leveling; the left gen off alerted accompanied by utility bus load shedding. The flight safely diverted to a nearby international airport.