DC-10 and Tristar

[tonytales]

One bad feature of the L-1011 was its dependence on electrics for functions. I ran from JFK to LGA when one of our aircraft was unable to shut down its engine. I found Nbr. 2 engine running at sub-idle, the others were shutdown. The APU would not start. I found the battery totally depleted.The HP cock (electrically operated) was partially closed which is why it was running at sub-idle. As the engine had slowed the IDG went off line. With no power the valve stopped moving. Pulling the emergency firewall shutoff handle elicited a series of clicks from the switches but with no power, no action. The aircraft would not accept ground power with a dead battery. I got LGA Maintenance to get a spare battery. When plugged in, the HP Cock completed it cycle. After troubleshooting, I found a battery transfer relay had failed, so keeping the battery on line but the charger off.
A couple of years later when I was Manager at EWR we had a fire in the E and E compartment of a L-1011 that broke out as it taxied in. It started from a heater on the toilet tank dump valve, spread through the shroud on the tank, the air ducting and was going aft burning the insulation when a potable water line running across the compartment cooked, burst and subdued the fire. Fortunately, the aircraft had docked and the L1 pax door opened and loading bridge on. The electrical power then failed. The crew was not aware of the fire as the overboard vent fan from the E&E was blowing smoke and bits of burnt plastic outside. A stampede of pax and crew ensued as the fumes then came up. The fumes were bad enough to send one of my supervisors off to the hospital when he entered the plane looking for the fire source.
We were lucky. The loss of electrics occurred after engine shutdown and with the L1 door open. Had it occurred on taxi-in or even worse, in-flight, it would not have been possible to shut the engines down nor turn off the bleed air to the packs. The L-1011 had no manual operation of the outflow valve as the DC-8, DC-9 and DC-10 had. Even a slight amount of cabin pressure would have prevented the L-1011 inward-opening doors from opening. We narrowly avoided what happened later in Saudi Arabia. There is much to be said for a few cable-operated valves.