747 -400 Engine fire

[Guest bassplayer1939]

Hi Folks, I have finally got to grips with the progamming of the FMC and the inflight handling of the aircraft. However on a flight EGNM to LPPT I happened to open up the Locked Spot view to find black smoke being emitted from just below the Tail housing. I was about half way into the flight. The only thing in the tail that could be on fire is the APU. So I checked all the settings on the Overhead and everything was normal.There were no fire warnings illuminated anywhere.I then ckecked the flight panels, same result. Nothing untoward. The aircraft was behaving OK so the flight continued. While I was settled in the STAR phase into Lisbon I checked again now to find both Port engines were on fire. As I was about to land I switched back to the cockpit and again there were no indications of fire anywhere in the displays. The aircraft landed perfectly until I applied reverse thrust. Only the two Starboard engines operated and this slewed the aircraft off onto the grass. What is odd about this is that all failures were turned off and had they been on there was still no way I could have put the APU fire out.I applied the extingishers to the Port engines once I was on the ground but nothing happened so I just shut everything down and lo! the smoke stopped.Odd or what? Mick........Brilliant aircraft to fly.

[tcas_climb 45]

I can only explain the tail smoke. Sounds like you had a tail strike.

[downscc 1,327]

Maybe: http://ops.precisionmanuals.com/wiki/PMDG_...fails_to_reload

[Guest bassplayer1939]

Thanks Guys....Food for thought. Tail strike Mmmmmmmmmm? possible, very possible. Miss load also in the Engine fire department. However I now have inherited another problem. I saved two flights and when I returned to them today I find the Aircraft oscillating 300 ft above to 300ft below cruise altitude. Both aircraft were set at different cruise altitudes 34300 and 32000 respectively. The oscillation goes on for mile after mile and will not settle. I have tried coming out of VNAV into hold and zeroing the VS but this only temporarily settles the issue. Once back in VNARV off we go again.Mick Hill.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Mick-I would recommend checking to ensure that the FMS is fully initialized. During the save-flight routine, it should retain all current information- but it sounds to me like the airplane is unsure of your actual performance and thus operating in a degraded state.Also- check to ensure that you have the barometers set to 29.92 on both sides of the airplane. (This is just a wild guess...)We have occasionally heard of people reporting what you are seeing, but generally speaking we have found the cause to be the result of dramatic changes in the fuel load when restarting a saved flight- or changing the load using a non-PMDG aircraft loading application.It does not sound like either of these causes are yours, however.

[Guest bassplayer1939]

Mick-I would recommend checking to ensure that the FMS is fully initialized. During the save-flight routine, it should retain all current information- but it sounds to me like the airplane is unsure of your actual performance and thus operating in a degraded state.Also- check to ensure that you have the barometers set to 29.92 on both sides of the airplane. (This is just a wild guess...)We have occasionally heard of people reporting what you are seeing, but generally speaking we have found the cause to be the result of dramatic changes in the fuel load when restarting a saved flight- or changing the load using a non-PMDG aircraft loading application.It does not sound like either of these causes are yours, however.

Thanks for that. I will investigate next time in.Mick Hill

[Johnny767 40]

My Queen is hot. Just started experiencing this and nothing seems to fix it. :Sigh:Screen-ShotWell, not letting me post a screen shotFIXED...Reloaded the fuel using PMDG's manager !Johnny Gonzalez

Edited February 8, 2012 by Johnny767