Just had our first tech episode on the 777, and it wasn't even the aeroplane throwing a wobbly.
Brand spanking new, latest addition to the fleet, only 2 weeks young and still smelling all wrong for a freighter. Had been sitting on the ramp in LEJ for 1 week over x-mas/new year and in need of a check. Absent minded engineer boards the kite, fires up the electrics and runs all kinds of test - including one where you turn pitot heating on.
Smell of burned plastic makes it way into the cockpit and, after a while, the penny drops on our entrepid engineer and he discovers all 3 pitots are somewhat clogged with residue of burned plastic, and have taken an odd hue of red.
Major egg-on-face moment, fair bit of adult language administered and one engineer is sent home to contemplate his idiocy for a couple of days sans pay. Flight delayed for 6 hours whilst 2 new pitot tubes are flown in and fitted - as per Boeing recommendation only 1 spare pitot tube is kept in stock. Chartering a jet at o'dark hundred for an AOG mission is not, as you know, cheap!
Apart from that, still going like clockwork. Due to some traffic rights issues we've been flying direct SIN-LEJ recently, bypassing the scheduled stop in DEL. Still, the girl hardly breaks a sweat and happily schleps around 100 tons going uphill and against the winds. Amazing piece of kit - barring any engineering stupidity that is.
