Narrative:

On climb out noticed flickering annunciation on overhead annunciation panel. Eventually confirmed it as CSD oil temperature and confirmed it with the CSD outlet temperature gauge pegged above 180 [degrees] C. We pushed the rise button for the CSD and it showed a 15 [degrees] C rise. I told the first officer to continue to fly and monitor the radio while I pulled the QRH. The QRH had us disconnect the CSD and start the APU. We did both of these items with no issue. At this point we decided to contact company via commercial radio for instructions before we got too far out over the water (class 2 navigation starts fast here.) we established contact with commercial radio on frequency 130.7. It was a very good connection and we were able to tell maintenance and dispatch exactly what happened and both the mechanic and dispatcher approved us to continue the flight to our scheduled destination. About 40 minutes into cruise flight the APU began to fail. The APU generator began to cut in and out and finally the APU shutdown. The left generator was able to carry the entire load without issue. At this point we were at least 280 miles south of the closest airport and roughly 316 miles west of another suitable airport. We were out of radar contact; and were using the GPS for navigation while the FMS was still on dead reckoning. We had discussed turn back points and emergencies prior to entering class 2 navigation. We discussed attempting an APU restart (we were cruising at 31;000 ft); but decided to contact the company before doing anything else. We were unable to establish any contact with commercial radio on frequency 130.7. We attempted to contact commercial radio on 131.17 and we did establish contact (131.17 was not correct for our area but we gave it a try.) we were able to get a phone patch with dispatch but the connection became worse and we were unable to have effective communication. At this point we chose to divert into the first airport. I had the first officer begin the diversion while I informed the flight attendants and passengers. We asked ATC to inform our dispatch that we were diverting and provided them with the phone number for dispatch. We chose the closest airport due [to] desirable weather and customs availability. I also heard our mechanic talking to the commercial radio controller about how a diversion into this airport might be an option. The easterly airport was tempting but seemed too far away (lots of water to cross) considering the generator situation and being out of radar contact. The approach and landing were normal and we did the single generator landing checklist. An emergency was never declared. Once on the ground we sat for a while waiting for an international gate. Considering we did not have any ground power or air I decided to start the APU and it worked perfectly. I wrote up the CSD and the APU failure as two separate entries in the log book. We ended up having both the CSD and APU signed off by a contract mechanic. We were asked to fly to our original destination with the APU running as a precaution. It again failed in flight at 31;000 ft after about 44 minutes of flight. The APU generator had no load on it when it failed. The CSD worked normally. Another APU write up was made in the logbook. We chose not to restart the APU after it initially failed for safety reasons and the thought that it might fail again. The end of our flight would be in night conditions with forecast IMC and icing which would not be ideal single generator operations. The SELCAL check and radio check before entering class 2 navigation were perfect. The radio check was 5 by 5. We also contacted commercial radio (130.20) to relay times to dispatch on the flight and the connection was fine.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A MD83 CSD overheated during climb out and was disconnected but the APU generator carried the load until it quit some time later. The flight now had a single generator and so diverted to an enroute airport for repairs.

Narrative: On climb out noticed flickering annunciation on overhead annunciation panel. Eventually confirmed it as CSD oil temperature and confirmed it with the CSD outlet temperature gauge pegged above 180 [degrees] C. We pushed the rise button for the CSD and it showed a 15 [degrees] C rise. I told the First Officer to continue to fly and monitor the radio while I pulled the QRH. The QRH had us disconnect the CSD and start the APU. We did both of these items with no issue. At this point we decided to contact company via commercial radio for instructions before we got too far out over the water (class 2 navigation starts fast here.) We established contact with commercial radio on frequency 130.7. It was a very good connection and we were able to tell Maintenance and Dispatch exactly what happened and both the Mechanic and Dispatcher approved us to continue the flight to our scheduled destination. About 40 minutes into cruise flight the APU began to fail. The APU generator began to cut in and out and finally the APU shutdown. The left generator was able to carry the entire load without issue. At this point we were at least 280 miles south of the closest airport and roughly 316 miles west of another suitable airport. We were out of radar contact; and were using the GPS for navigation while the FMS was still on dead reckoning. We had discussed turn back points and emergencies prior to entering class 2 navigation. We discussed attempting an APU restart (we were cruising at 31;000 FT); but decided to contact the company before doing anything else. We were unable to establish any contact with commercial radio on frequency 130.7. We attempted to contact commercial radio on 131.17 and we did establish contact (131.17 was not correct for our area but we gave it a try.) We were able to get a phone patch with Dispatch but the connection became worse and we were unable to have effective communication. At this point we chose to divert into the first airport. I had the First Officer begin the diversion while I informed the flight attendants and passengers. We asked ATC to inform our Dispatch that we were diverting and provided them with the phone number for Dispatch. We chose the closest airport due [to] desirable weather and customs availability. I also heard our Mechanic talking to the commercial radio Controller about how a diversion into this airport might be an option. The easterly airport was tempting but seemed too far away (lots of water to cross) considering the generator situation and being out of radar contact. The approach and landing were normal and we did the single generator landing checklist. An emergency was never declared. Once on the ground we sat for a while waiting for an international gate. Considering we did not have any ground power or air I decided to start the APU and it worked perfectly. I wrote up the CSD and the APU failure as two separate entries in the log book. We ended up having both the CSD and APU signed off by a Contract Mechanic. We were asked to fly to our original destination with the APU running as a precaution. It again failed in flight at 31;000 FT after about 44 minutes of flight. The APU generator had no load on it when it failed. The CSD worked normally. Another APU write up was made in the logbook. We chose not to restart the APU after it initially failed for safety reasons and the thought that it might fail again. The end of our flight would be in night conditions with forecast IMC and icing which would not be ideal single generator operations. The SELCAL check and radio check before entering class 2 navigation were perfect. The radio check was 5 by 5. We also contacted commercial radio (130.20) to relay times to Dispatch on the flight and the connection was fine.

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.