skier17
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787 makes emergency landing in KLRD after an in-flight fire in electrical bay.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ht...mergency10.html?prmid=related_stories_section
Electrical fire forces emergency landing of 787 test plane
A serious in-flight fire in the electric equipment bay of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight test plane forced an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas, Tuesday.
By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
Related
The fire affected the cockpit controls and the jet lost its primary flight displays and its auto-throttle, according to a person familiar with the incident. The flight and engine controls, which on the Dreamliner are all-electric, weren't fully functional, this person said.
A small emergency power generator called the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) that typically kicks in only when both primary and auxiliary power sources are lost was automatically deployed. The RAT — a device like a small dynamo that drops down from the fuselage and generates power from the air flowing past the aircraft — provides sufficient power for flight controls and other vital systems in an emergency.
The smoke in the back of the cabin of Dreamliner No. 2, where a team of flight technicians sat at computer workstations monitoring the flight data, was first detected on approach to the Laredo airport after six hours of flying.
As the incident escalated, the pilot declared an emergency, landed the plane, and activated the emergency slides.
The 30 to 40 people aboard were able to get out safely.
"The aircraft landed at Laredo at about 2:54 Central Time," said Federal Aviation Adminstration spokesman Lynn Lunsford. "The aircraft was evacuated on the runway. They pulled the slides."
Flames were observed in the rear electrical/electronics (EE) bay, which is underneath the passenger cabin, said two people who were informed of the details.
On most airliners, most of the flight controls are operated using pneumatic or hydraulic systems. One of the innovations on the Dreamliner is that all the controls are electric.
"If this had happened at 25,000 feet, we might be talking about something much more serious," said a person close to the situation.
Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said it's too early to speculate on the cause.
The test airplane took off from Yuma, Ariz., early Tuesday morning in search of hot weather for a test of the nitrogen generating system that reduces the flammability of the jet fuel inside the wing tanks.
The system injects nitrogen into the space above the fuel as the tank empties; the fuel is more volatile when hot.
The plane had originally filed a flight plan to fly to Harlingen, Texas, but the pilots decided instead to land in Laredo because weather conditions there looked better for their test, Gunter said.
The FAA's Lunsford confirmed that the plane was not diverted. He said the FAA will look into the incident with Boeing to determine the cause.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ht...mergency10.html?prmid=related_stories_section
Electrical fire forces emergency landing of 787 test plane
A serious in-flight fire in the electric equipment bay of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight test plane forced an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas, Tuesday.
By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
Related
- Boeing tells analyst: 787 deliveries 'will take longer than expected'
- Rolls-Royce says 787 engine issue 'unconnected' to A380 incident
The fire affected the cockpit controls and the jet lost its primary flight displays and its auto-throttle, according to a person familiar with the incident. The flight and engine controls, which on the Dreamliner are all-electric, weren't fully functional, this person said.
A small emergency power generator called the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) that typically kicks in only when both primary and auxiliary power sources are lost was automatically deployed. The RAT — a device like a small dynamo that drops down from the fuselage and generates power from the air flowing past the aircraft — provides sufficient power for flight controls and other vital systems in an emergency.
The smoke in the back of the cabin of Dreamliner No. 2, where a team of flight technicians sat at computer workstations monitoring the flight data, was first detected on approach to the Laredo airport after six hours of flying.
As the incident escalated, the pilot declared an emergency, landed the plane, and activated the emergency slides.
The 30 to 40 people aboard were able to get out safely.
"The aircraft landed at Laredo at about 2:54 Central Time," said Federal Aviation Adminstration spokesman Lynn Lunsford. "The aircraft was evacuated on the runway. They pulled the slides."
Flames were observed in the rear electrical/electronics (EE) bay, which is underneath the passenger cabin, said two people who were informed of the details.
On most airliners, most of the flight controls are operated using pneumatic or hydraulic systems. One of the innovations on the Dreamliner is that all the controls are electric.
"If this had happened at 25,000 feet, we might be talking about something much more serious," said a person close to the situation.
Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said it's too early to speculate on the cause.
The test airplane took off from Yuma, Ariz., early Tuesday morning in search of hot weather for a test of the nitrogen generating system that reduces the flammability of the jet fuel inside the wing tanks.
The system injects nitrogen into the space above the fuel as the tank empties; the fuel is more volatile when hot.
The plane had originally filed a flight plan to fly to Harlingen, Texas, but the pilots decided instead to land in Laredo because weather conditions there looked better for their test, Gunter said.
The FAA's Lunsford confirmed that the plane was not diverted. He said the FAA will look into the incident with Boeing to determine the cause.
