BA B772 enroute, No.2 ECU Unresponsive

[Buzz Control]

The following is being reported by Aviation Herald: The Aviation Herald (http://avherald.com/h?article=409414b4&opt=0)

Incident: British Airways B772 enroute on June 29th 2008, right engine unresponsive to throttles for 90 seconds
By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Jul 6th 2008 06:58Z, last updated Sunday, Jul 6th 2008 07:25Z
The right hand engine of a British Airways Boeing 777-200, registration G-YMMC performing flight BA146 from Kolkata (India) to London Heathrow (UK), was unresponsive to throttle commands (thrust increase and decrease) for about 90 seconds while enroute, then the situation came back to normal and the flight continued to London without any further incident.

The crew included First Officer Coward, who had been handling pilot on board of flight BA38 (http://avherald.com/h?article=4009e4c6&opt=0) crashlanding at London Heathrow on January 17th 2008.

[spannersatcx]

The crew included First Officer Coward, who had been handling pilot on board of flight BA38 crashlanding at London Heathrow on January 17th 2008. It must be something he's doing then, better tell the AAIB.

[BOAC]

better tell the AAIB
Already done! (http://www.pprune.org/forums/jet-blast/333995-ba-b772-enroute-no-2-ecu-unresponsive.html) :ok:

[electricdeathjet]

Holy Moly....
Didnt he get struck by lightning TWICE and survive?



Oh what Engines? RR again?

[M.Mouse]

This incident has been investigated, the cause has been determined and the AAIB have ruled out any connection with the BA38 accident.

The full details will be published in due course I am sure.

[fc101]

electricdeathjet

I presume from your name that you're a 777 driver...The other options are a 787 test pilot or a Quantas 747 driver.... :}


Getting back onto topic, isn't this the third such (reported) incident on 777s - Heathrow included - since the Heathrow accident...it might be naiveity but given that fuel contamination, icing, fuel temp etc all have been ruled out this starts to leave avionics computers and FADEC...wasn't it a Quantas 777 (???) from Perth that had similar problems?

A colleague of mine has suggested a correspondance with the Kenya 737-800 crash as well - he transferred from 737s to Embraer...nothing beats no autothrottle :8

Anyway, just muses - this is Pprune after all...

E145 driver

[pacplyer]

Wow. Interesting. Repeat write ups.... and add to that the dimension of cold-soaking issues on long flights and it sounds kinda like you've still got a mystery here.....

Any 777 guys wanna comment anonymously on the behavior of the ATS? :E

Suggestion: go to an internet cafe so the nerds can't track you....)

Since we're on a rumour network..... I'm going to try to defend the honor of the F/O in this case.

Having absolutely no experience on this model, it sounds like you've got bugs.

Sounds kinda like throttle resolver issues meaning software gremlins (maybe not getting along with cold soaked components?) Now you see the non-responsive gremlin, now you don't. Cycle some channels: Hey, it went away... press on! New software load comes quietly from Boeing and the problem goes away.....

or does it?

Better be sure boys.......

Maybe this F/O knows how to spot it now that it's "got him." Aviation history is full of control software issues that only rear their heads under certain situations.... The MD11 elevator software wash outs in the flare (small tail; not enough authority,) The early automatic engine shutdowns on the BAe-146, the FADEC refusals to give full power promptly on some models of Airbuses early in the demo of the aircraft. The A310 flight spoiler faults..... I could go on all day. Just because the machine is certified by the government or the accident investigators didn't come up with a iron-clad cause doesn't mean some anomaly doesn't exist.

I would venture to say, that transitory software glitches (control software bugs in the load) are some of the hardest things to pin down. They only fail every blue moon, and when they are discovered by a programer or flight test team are quietly swept under the carpet. Again, the sacrificial saga of poor old Whoot Gibson (TWA 727 control upset) comes to mind.
The Triple Seven is a cash cow. These are some of the most politically charged stories I've read in a long time.

The above are all just my opinions only.

pac "more power Scotty!" plyer

[barry lloyd]

Quantas

Who?:confused:

[M.Mouse]

It was nothing to do with software or the autothrust system and was completely unrelated to the BA38 or any other incident.

[philbky]

So what you are saying, M Mouse, is that there is yet another new fault on a 777

[pacplyer]

M.Mouse,

Well, you don't have a physical control cable going to the fadec or fcu, do you? So ROM chips surely provide the cold boot to get the interface up and running that is shared by both the electric throttle resolver and the ATS system.

Right?

There is a software resolution going on, if it is behaving properly. My hypothetical is based on the fact that in each case there seem to be periods where command data is not making it to the fcu.

But I must confess I'm not familiar with the emerging details of these two incidents. Can you elaborate a little further why you are certain they do not have a common relationship?

Thanks

[lomapaseo]

But I must confess I'm not familiar with the emerging details of these two incidents. Can you elaborate a little further why you are certain they do not have a common relationship?

Thanks

The answer to this question is about a page back in the BA038 thread. Unfortunately having the question and answer spread between multiple posts in multiple threads causes some confusion and misunderstandings.

I'll leave it up to the Mods whether they merge the subject discussion into this thread.

[DILLIGAFF]

See page 73 in BA038 thread.
D

[Phil1980's]

Dont worry FCU...I'm english and I've done that before...some people here who are Nick Picking should be intelligent enough to know that we can think back to the " QU" Style spelling and I know you did it by mistake...Dont worry about them...who cares if you spelt it wrong...

No-one should be put down whether they know the spelling or not...the only people I dont like is people belittleing others for something...