http://avherald.com/h?article=4b268b68&opt=0
https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-tro ... ne-failure
Sounds rather disconcerting. Im on mobile and cant look at the FL24 track but wouldn't a diversion to BNE or NOU be more appropriate with half the cockpit instruments dark too?
Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Definitely disconcerting.
Sounds like the situation was poorly handled by CA as well.
Curious why you think diverting to NOU or BNE would have been appropriate? They were about an hour out of AKL which would still have been the closet port.
Sounds like the situation was poorly handled by CA as well.
Curious why you think diverting to NOU or BNE would have been appropriate? They were about an hour out of AKL which would still have been the closet port.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
If the left engine stops, can't the crew redivert the buses to whatever systems are necessary? It sounds strange that lights and electricity was gone on one side of the aircraft.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
JetBuddy wrote:If the left engine stops, can't the crew redivert the buses to whatever systems are necessary? It sounds strange that lights and electricity was gone on one side of the aircraft.
I'm not all that familiar with the 787, but the APU might have been an option too.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Air China reported the left hand engine failed causing the loss of electrical power for cabin, navigation, communication and radar. The autopilot continued to work.
THAT is the scary part. Sounds as if bus switching didn't operate properly. Shouldn't critical items get multiple layers of backup power, down to battery standby? Or those are not considered as critical? - of course flight controls are more important...
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
I would rather look at it being a power distribution failure, Each engine alone should be able to run the complete electrical system, not to be talking about the APU.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Sounds like the electrical left-to-right bus ties for the 115 VAC and 28 VDC did not operate properly. This is in the front electrical bay and the bus-tie should happen automatically...with maybe some load-shed, not the entire left side power out. APU could be started by the crew, but may not have been able to provide power to loads with an electrical bus problem.
Scary mostly for passengers...the key flight computers and instrumentation have lots of redundancy, several batteries, backup permanent-magnet generators and RAT. Nevertheless, the 787, more than other aircraft depends on electric distribution...this incident should be followed up with answers!
Scary mostly for passengers...the key flight computers and instrumentation have lots of redundancy, several batteries, backup permanent-magnet generators and RAT. Nevertheless, the 787, more than other aircraft depends on electric distribution...this incident should be followed up with answers!
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- LoganTheBogan
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Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Possibly an unknown issue with the 787. This incident makes it look like there was no electrical transfer. I've been on an aircraft with an engine failure and the the power operated as it should. The cabin was lit fine and the IFE continued to work albeit a few interruptions when switching. I have no doubt on the 787s safety and I know it's a great aircraft but RR really needs to get their engines sorted and Boeing really needs to keep an eye out on their electrical system. I might be wrong though. This incident could be isolated to Air China 
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- Chrisba320
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Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
I've worked for one of the major European airlines for several years and I know stuff happens to all aircraft types but I'm sorry, I just don't trust the 787. I've successfully avoided traveling on one so far and I intend keeping it that way. Give me any Airbus widebody or the 777.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Not sure why the crew is being faulted here, sounds like they did the right thing in returning to AKL
However there certainly was an issue with electrical redundancy here, no 787 expert but I would think the other engine driven generator(s) and or the APU generator should have picked up the load
The unexpected happens though, in the early days operating the 767-400 we had a few electrical system glitches
One night I was returning to EWR from GIG, around two hours after take off we lost an engine driven generator, the other engine generator did pick up the load, however the checklist called for us to start the APU for redundancy
It started but would not come on line no matter what we tried
Faced with the prospect of another six hours to our destination at night with dubious weather on one operating generator we elected to divert and landed in Manaus
Losing another generator would have put us on standby power, not a good situation if you can avoid it
We were overland with airports not too far away, this crew had no choice and it sounds like they did a good job
However there certainly was an issue with electrical redundancy here, no 787 expert but I would think the other engine driven generator(s) and or the APU generator should have picked up the load
The unexpected happens though, in the early days operating the 767-400 we had a few electrical system glitches
One night I was returning to EWR from GIG, around two hours after take off we lost an engine driven generator, the other engine generator did pick up the load, however the checklist called for us to start the APU for redundancy
It started but would not come on line no matter what we tried
Faced with the prospect of another six hours to our destination at night with dubious weather on one operating generator we elected to divert and landed in Manaus
Losing another generator would have put us on standby power, not a good situation if you can avoid it
We were overland with airports not too far away, this crew had no choice and it sounds like they did a good job
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- LoganTheBogan
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Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Max Q wrote:Not sure why the crew is being faulted here, sounds like they did the right thing in returning to AKL
However there certainly was an issue with electrical redundancy here, no 787 expert but I would think the other engine driven generator(s) and or the APU generator should have picked up the load
The unexpected happens though, in the early days operating the 767-400 we had a few electrical system glitches
One night I was returning to EWR from GIG, around two hours after take off we lost an engine driven generator, the other engine generator did pick up the load, however the checklist called for us to start the APU for redundancy
It started but would not come on line no matter what we tried
Faced with the prospect of another six hours to our destination at night with dubious weather on one operating generator we elected to divert and landed in Manaus
Losing another generator would have put us on standby power, not a good situation if you can avoid it
We were overland with airports not too far away, this crew had no choice and it sounds like they did a good job
Apparently the crew didn't tell the passengers anything and when they landed they had no gate and it was all chaos. I would prefer to have a crew member notify me what's happening tbh.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-t ... ne-failure
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
I would also question how accurate the media report is, it's won't be the first or last time they've messed up on reporting a situation. Obviously something did happen but did it happen exactly the way it's been reported? Shouldn't there be redundant systems to cover system failures so you have at least partial system operation?
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- BestWestern
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Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Chinese pilots tend to be very mute - on a domestic flight its rare to hear from them en route.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
Given what was lost and what was available it might have been in standby power mode.
This could be a distribution issue rather than a generation issue.
This could be a distribution issue rather than a generation issue.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
How were they able to return without bigger issues not having communication and navigating systems available?
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- Newbiepilot
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Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
zeke wrote:Given what was lost and what was available it might have been in standby power mode.
This could be a distribution issue rather than a generation issue.
I agree thwt it sounds like a distribution issue
I dont think they went to the nearest suitable alternate. I dont have a 787 QRH memorized, but if they are down to standby power, they probably would not have gone to AKL.
My guess is that they lost a generator and had trouble switching power.
Re: Air China 787 loses half of its electrical power
The wording in the AvHerald report is a little iffy for my taste. It doesn't say “in flight shut down“ of one engine or anything like that, so I'm not quite sure they were one engine out.
The discription of the symptoms fits exactly what I experienced on my last simulator check-ride. We had the Right Main Bus fail, and this is exactly what happend: all the right hand instruments, as well as the right landing and position lights, plus a few other systems went out. While I don't fly the 787, I guess the general idea of a bus lay-out won't be much different.
Also, I don't think they were entirely without navs and coms. But probably without the left hand systems, so they lost redundancy.
In any of that, from all we know today: well done by the crew.
The discription of the symptoms fits exactly what I experienced on my last simulator check-ride. We had the Right Main Bus fail, and this is exactly what happend: all the right hand instruments, as well as the right landing and position lights, plus a few other systems went out. While I don't fly the 787, I guess the general idea of a bus lay-out won't be much different.
Also, I don't think they were entirely without navs and coms. But probably without the left hand systems, so they lost redundancy.
In any of that, from all we know today: well done by the crew.
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