USAPA's Illegal Job Action Causing Pilot Terminations.

[m80drvr]

Then why did they last 30 min instead of less than 5 min when they replaced them?

Did you actually read the MX report? I know it has some long words in it but if you actually sound them out you may understand why the airbus powered down after 5 minutes ON THE GROUND.

Here is the pararaph so you don't have to look it up.

Technical Clarification: One technical issue raised during this event that Maintenance could not quickly explain was why the aircraft batteries only provided power for less than 5 minutes. Detailed below is a technical clarification on that issue:
In this situation, with an A330 on the ground with no AC power available (No Integrated Drive Generator (IDG), Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), or ground power), BAT1 and BAT2 will power the DC BAT, DC ESSENTIAL, and AC ESSENTIAL buses when the BAT pushbutton switches are in AUTO. The DC ESSENTIAL SHED bus is disconnected when on battery power only. Once one of the battery voltages drops below 23V for 16 seconds and the LGCIU detects the nose landing gear downlocked and compressed; the Battery Charge Limiters (BCLs) will disconnect both batteries from the DC BAT, DC ESSENTIAL, and AC ESSENTIAL buses. This is done to prevent completely discharging the batteries while the aircraft is on the ground (Reference AMM 24‐38‐00). When the BCL disconnects the batteries from the DC ESSENTIAL us, the VHF 1 radio become unavailable. To reconnect the contactors, the flight crew must switch the BAT push button switch to OFF, then AUTO. This would restore the VHF 1 radio. (Reference ‐ USA A330 Controls & Indications Manual) The amount of time the batteries will power these buses will be dependent on the capacity of the batteries and the lectrical load they are holding. The nominal capacity of an A330 battery is either 37 Amp‐Hour or 40 Amp‐Hour,
depending on the battery part number. In the air, the AC and DC buses will be supplied by the IDGs and if running, the APU. If both IDGs and the APU become unavailable, the Constant Speed Motor/Generator (CSM/G) will supply the AC and DC buses. The CSM/G is powered by the green hydraulic system as pressurized by the engine driven hydraulic pumps or the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) should power be lost in both engines. If the CSM/G is unavailable then the aircraft batteries will power the DC BAT, DC ESSENTIAL, and AC ESSENTIAL buses. The BCLs will not disconnect the batteries when one is discharged below 23V; hey will continue to power the hot battery buses, DC BAT bus, DC ESSENTIAL bus, and the AC ESSENTIAL bus as long as possible.
There was some discussion during this event that the aircraft batteries must provide at least 30 minutes of power as the aircraft was certified to that. To clarify that point, the A330 is certified to provide battery power to the DC BAT, DC ESSENTIAL, and AC ESSENTIAL buses for at least 21 ½ minutes while in flight. There is no certification requirement for how long the batteries need to power the A/C on the Ground before the BCLs disconnect the Batteries.

 

[grog_sit_reserv]

The fact of the matter is the plane was broken, it was not doing what it was supposed to do. I wouldn't take that plane either, especially on an 180min ETOPS flight at night. The proof is that when they switched the batteries, then it started working correctly. On the ground or in the air shouldn't make much difference.

The plane did exactly what it was supposed to do. What frustrates me is that the crews don't understand the plane well enough to solve the problem. Thank heaven they didn't have a real problem over the Atlantic where they might actually need to know how the plane works.

 

[Taco Rocket]

The plane did exactly what it was supposed to do. What frustrates me is that the crews don't understand the plane well enough to solve the problem. Thank heaven they didn't have a real problem over the Atlantic where they might actually need to know how the plane works.

Maybe it's time to get someone under 60 in the cockpit...

 

[Skyflyin]

Did you actually read the MX report? I know it has some long words in it but if you actually sound them out you may understand why the airbus powered down after 5 minutes ON THE GROUND.

Yes I read it, but that does not explain why one time it lasted 5 min and then after they replaced the batteries it then lasted 30 min doing the exact same test. If the plane did what is was supposed to do, why the difference? The only thing you could infer from the maintenance report is that when the batteries lasted 30 min the crew switched the BAT bus to OFF then AUTO to reconnect the buses, but it does not say that specifically.

However, having said that, even though that may be the case I bet it doesn't say anything about that in the pilot's manual. In fact, the maintenance guys didn't even know that since all they did was to run a couple of tests and sign it off. Otherwise they would have explained it to the crew and that would have been that.

So not knowing that was the case and thinking that the airplane was not doing what it was supposed to be doing, would YOU take the aircraft? I hope not. I still think they did the right thing.