Narrative:

On climb-out; master caution light; right AC bus; right tru; right elev horn heat; and right stall warning caution lights illuminated. I knew all those caution lights illuminating were a direct result of the right AC bus caution light illuminating; so I had the first officer run the right AC bus abnormal checklist first and then all others. At the same time I informed ATC for a lower altitude because we had encountered icing conditions and we had lost part of our anti-icing equipment. I also asked for a vectored box pattern so we could finish the checklists and get a hold of company to inform them of what was going on and because we would probably be returning due to weather conditions. After completing all appropriate checklists I repeatedly tried to SELCAL dispatch with no luck. I did pass through my info (problem; altitude; fuel; location) through operations and we came to agreement to return due to weather conditions; proximity; and maintenance we have there. Informed ATC and the passengers of our intentions and returned with no further complications. I did get to find out that this aircraft had a history of multiple previous write ups for the same problem.other than the fact that this aircraft seems to have this as a recurring problem and [should] finally get fixed; I have no other suggestion. Mechanical irregularities happen [and] we all performed as we were supposed to. I wish SELCAL worked better so I could communicate directly with company; but hopefully a new satcom system that will be replacing SELCAL will work better.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DHC8 Captain experiences a R AC bus failure with associated failures during climb out and elects to return to the departure airport. The aircraft apparently had a history of R AC bus failures.

Narrative: On climb-out; master caution light; R AC BUS; R TRU; R ELEV HORN HEAT; and R STALL WARNING caution lights illuminated. I knew all those caution lights illuminating were a direct result of the R AC BUS caution light illuminating; so I had the First Officer run the R AC BUS abnormal checklist first and then all others. At the same time I informed ATC for a lower altitude because we had encountered icing conditions and we had lost part of our anti-icing equipment. I also asked for a vectored box pattern so we could finish the checklists and get a hold of company to inform them of what was going on and because we would probably be returning due to weather conditions. After completing all appropriate checklists I repeatedly tried to SELCAL Dispatch with no luck. I did pass through my info (problem; altitude; fuel; location) through Operations and we came to agreement to return due to weather conditions; proximity; and Maintenance we have there. Informed ATC and the passengers of our intentions and returned with no further complications. I did get to find out that this aircraft had a history of multiple previous write ups for the same problem.Other than the fact that this aircraft seems to have this as a recurring problem and [should] finally get fixed; I have no other suggestion. Mechanical irregularities happen [and] we all performed as we were supposed to. I wish SELCAL worked better so I could communicate directly with company; but hopefully a new SATCOM system that will be replacing SELCAL will work better.

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.