Hey guys!

 

Currently enroute ESSA-LEAL and got my first failure in the NGX after enabling service based failures a couple of weeks ago.

 

The Master Caution Light is illuminated with ELEC shown on the recall panel. Looking at the overhead panel I have Source OFF and GEN OFF BUS for GEN 2 and DRIVE 2 light is also illuminated looking at the STANDBY POWER section of the overhead panel. Looking in the FMC under the failures section I have one active failure in red under Electrical saying 'GEN 2 DRIVE DISC'.

 

Using the QRH all I have found is 'LOSS OF BOTH ENGINE DRIVEN GENERATORS' but in my case luckily enough I only seem to have a problem with GEN 2 so where can I find what is the appropriate action in this situation?

After posting above I found the answer in the QRH under 6.12, to start the APU and then switching the APU GEN on the affected side to ON and this made the SOURCE OFF light extinguish and as I understood the QRH this means I'm good to continue to my destination to have the failure fixed there since I now have two AC power sources again.

 

However when reading under 6.4 in the QRH (for loss of both eng gen) there's a note saying it's not recommended to start the APU above 25000 feet and I'm currently at FL360 but maybe this only is true if both generators have failed since this note wasn't found under 6.12....?

Be advised , according to FCOM L.10.8 APU:

 

APU

[Option - Typical JAA]

APU bleed + electrical load: max alt 10,000 ft.

 

[Option - Typical FAA]

Inflight - APU bleed + electrical load: max alt 10,000 ft.

 

[Option - Typical FAA]

Ground only - APU bleed + electrical load: max alt 15,000 ft.

APU bleed: max alt 17,000 ft.

APU electrical load: max alt 41,000 ft.

 

I think as long as you use electrical power only (so no bleed) FL360 is fine.

-> specified only for US as far as I can tell. Since JAA does not specify I follow US. (besides 41000ft is 737's ceiling anyway)

Great, thanks a lot for the info!

 

Just crossed the French border and so far all is good and I hope they will have any spare parts needed in Alicante

 

Another question and sorry for being a bit off topic...are there any visual effects when you lets say have an engine fire where you will actually see flames coming out from the engine or will you just see and hear the warnings inside the cockpit?

The reason for the all the lights is the GEN DRIVE failed, so you need to mechanically disconnect it. I don't work from the same checklist as you, but mine simply calls it "DRIVE."

Well...we made it in one piece to our destination and once on the ground we cleared the active failure and now we're headed back and hoping for a less exciting leg

Amazingly enough the same failure triggered again but this time for ENG GEN 1 At least this time I knew what to do!

 

What I'm wondering now is if this is pure coincidence or if it could have anything to do with how I cleared the first failure? Noticed you can clear a failure in several different ways, by clearing the specific failure by clicking it and then choose active to no or you can choose clear all and there's also an option to clear all or clear active under the maintenance page.

Would it make any difference in what way you clear an active failure?

I've never experienced service-based failures (yet), so I'm merely guessing, but: did you actually go ahead and service the affected subsystem by selecting the associated SERVICE NOW action? If you didn't, I wouldn't be surprised if those generators will keep tripping off-line, an unfortunate state of affairs precipitated entirely by your virtual airline's shoddy maintenance practices.

Well...I didn't perform any service since the FMC indicates about 100 hours to go until next service and I don't want to reset that in advance.

 

What I did go was to clear the active failure and I've now done it again so will be interesting to see what happens on next flight

With your flames question no you dont get to see flames coming out of your engine, only the indication in the cockpit.