Dubliftment From Germany, joined Sep 2007, 56 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 years 3 months 1 week 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1785 times:
hi there,
since I couldn't find any info (it might have been discussed, though): has there been an A320 loosing all power recently and being forced to do an emergency landing? I was told there was, and that the landing was safe also. I'd be interested how an FBW configured a/c operates in that state. Which control surfaces are manually operable when losing all electrical power (due to engine shutdown and, lets say, a short circuit with the battery supply). Are non FBW a/c to be considered safer planes in that case?
Reltney From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 182 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (5 years 3 months 1 week 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1748 times:
I dont fly airbuses but I did fly F-16s and the plane had 5 different electrical sources for the FBW controls. The last was(no kidding) D cell size batteries . They were located near the controls they powered and when they were your last hope. 30 min of power I think. I am sure the frenchies have multiple redundant systems .
Qantas744ER From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 1252 posts, RR: 4 Reply 4, posted (5 years 3 months 1 week 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 1673 times:
Maybe the system was infected with the "Boeing" virus ??
Tdscanuck From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 12709 posts, RR: 80 Reply 5, posted (5 years 3 months 1 week 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1511 times:
Quoting Dubliftment (Thread starter): has there been an A320 loosing all power recently and being forced to do an emergency landing? I was told there was, and that the landing was safe also. I'd be interested how an FBW configured a/c operates in that state.
You need to be a little careful about the phrase "losing all power." It most often applies to failure of the engines to provide thrust. The BA777 that crashed lost all power, but all the electronics were working just fine. For any FBW airliner, loss of all electrical power requires simultaneous loss of:
-both main engines
-the APU
-the RAT
-the battery
To my knowledge, no airplane has ever lost all four at the same time.
Helvknight From Switzerland, joined Aug 2006, 995 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (5 years 3 months 1 week 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1291 times:
Quoting OHLHD (Reply 7): Recently the Airbus I was sitting in went all dark ( still on ground) because some idiot disconnected the ground power with out the APU running!
On the ground isn't a problem. FL380 may be a bit more worrisome.
Remember take-offs are optional but landings are mandatory
Tdscanuck From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 12709 posts, RR: 80 Reply 9, posted (5 years 3 months 1 week 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 1250 times:
Quoting OHLHD (Reply 7): Recently the Airbus I was sitting in went all dark ( still on ground) because some idiot disconnected the ground power with out the APU running!
The hot battery bus should have still been live, so even that wouldn't be a total loss of electrical power, although it definitely gets disturbingly quiet when your main power gets cut off without warning.
Are you sure that it was a BA A320? Not an Air Transat A330 (not so recent, 7 years ago)? Nonetheless, this was a FBW aircraft and it suffered a dual flame out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236
RoseFlyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 8748 posts, RR: 52 Reply 12, posted (5 years 3 months 1 week 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 1079 times:
Quoting Qantas744ER (Reply 4): Maybe the system was infected with the "Boeing" virus ??
I'm not sure what you are implying, but the 787 will be the first Boeing airplane that will not have any manual reversion. The 777 does actually have cables running from the flight deck to select control surfaces. So a complete loss of electric power will still allow manual reversion with cables connected to hydraulic actuators.
The Airbus airplanes do not have this same capability. It is part of the fundamental differences between Airbus and Boeing.
If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!
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