Both MD11's autopilots failed on climb after takeoff. Since rvsm airspace was not permitted in that ...

Attributes
ACN	870633
Time
Date	201001
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-11
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autopilot
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 9000 Flight Crew Type 1000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

On climbout autopilot fail indication appeared on pfd. About 3000 ft I noticed a pushover command with no autopilot on. At this time I realized both autopilots failed. We could not continue into rvsm airspace and continue on our flight. We were then informed by dispatch to return to the departure airport. We had to dump about 100;000 pounds of fuel to reach our maximum landing weight. I believe that both FCC's failed. Maintenance was on board and checked the cfd's and concurred when or how they failed seems to be a mystery and the company is trying to resolve the issue. All preflight checks were ok. The time of the failure cannot be determined. I think a better warning system should be available to crews.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Both MD11's autopilots failed on climb after takeoff. Since RVSM airspace was not permitted in that condition the crew returned to land at the departure airport after burning fuel to landing weight.

Narrative: On climbout Autopilot Fail indication appeared on PFD. About 3000 FT I noticed a Pushover command with no autopilot on. At this time I realized both autopilots failed. We could not continue into RVSM airspace and continue on our flight. We were then informed by Dispatch to return to the departure airport. We had to dump about 100;000 LBS of fuel to reach our maximum landing weight. I believe that both FCC's failed. Maintenance was on board and checked the CFD's and concurred when or how they failed seems to be a mystery and the company is trying to resolve the issue. All preflight checks were OK. The time of the failure cannot be determined. I think a better warning system should be available to crews.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Both MD11's autopilots failed on climb after takeoff. Since rvsm airspace was not permitted in that condition the crew returned to land at the departure airport after burning fuel to landing weight.