I had heard that the overwater 757's and 767''s could make electricity by the RAT driving the hydraulic system and a hydraulic electrical generator.
Does anyone know if this plane was so equipped?
I don't believe the RAT can ever drive the HDG, RAT pressure is limited to the flight controls part of the center hydraulic system. However, there is an Air Driven Pump on the center system that will drive the HDG with pneumatic power if required on ETOPS planes. I'll add the caveat that Boeing has always been somewhat creative with options like extra pumps and switch positions in aircraft made for different customers and different engines so there may be exceptions to my claim that the RAT can't drive the HDG.
Ok riddle me this, how are you going to land at the nearest suitable airport in 30 minutes when you are ETOPS with a mere 180 to 205 minutes from the “nearest suitable airport?”
Under current ETOPS doctrine I think the acronym for this situation is S.O.L.
Actually, there was a Martinair 767 that had some serious hot battery bus problems on a crossing with somewhat similar landing and control issues:
ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 767-31AER PH-MCH Boston-Logan International Airport, MA (BOS)
They seemed to have normal AC power from both engine generators so starting the APU would have been no help.
And you need the aircraft battery as well as the APU battery to start the APU so if the aircraft battery was dead it wouldn't work anyway.