So I set off on a Japan Airlines flight from RJAA to KSFO. Uneventful departure except for a strange indication on the GEAR page showing the brakes on the right truck were all around 2.0 heat, yet the left truck was all 0.0. Now, I don't generally use differential braking and even so that's pretty hot just after takeoff. I was concerned about a wheel well fire and so slowed to 270K and extended the gear for a couple of minutes to accelerate cooling. This resolved the issue and I retracted the gear continued the climb on profile.

 

Now, several hours into the flight whilst having lunch, I happened to notice STATUS displayed on the EICAS.

 

So I bring up STAT page and see it telling me BLEED VALVE APU. I check the switch, it is on where it should be (even though APU itself is off of course). So I bring up checklists, and cannot find anything in the non-normal with this, the closest I get is BLEED OFF APU which is not very helpful as it says either you turned the valve off of the system did due to a fault. So OK perhaps the valve has failed, no big deal (though how does this affect etops?)

 

But then I checked the PMDG failures page and it shows 5 active failures, as follows:

 

AFT CARGO FIRE LOOP A

R ENG HPSOV VALVE

L ENG PRSOV VALVE

APU BLEED VALVE

NOSE TIRE BALANCE

 

The only one that shows on the actual 777 STAT page is BLEED VALVE APU. I manually turned off the APU bleed valve just to be sure its not gonna overheat or do something funny (In absence of a checklist item to follow.)

 

Now I will try to hunt thru the manuals to see if they can shed more info. Why the heck would the valves on two different engine be affected? And what does this have to do with the nose tire balance? And the fire loop?

 

EDITED: The LEFT ENGINE HPSOV has now also failed so no control over bleed air on this engine.

 

As I cannot find any items in any of the manuals to deal with this, when we commence descent and these valves need to move, if the LEFT duct pressure increases I am not sure what to do as I cant close down bleed air on this engine. Feed both systems off one engine to reduce the pressure? Something tells me that's not going to work.

Exciting times, did you divert?

Exciting times, did you divert?

I was not going to initially, but then I got a DET FIRE CARGO FWD and hightailed it to nearest airport wich is Eugene KEUG.

 

Currently on approach with 18 failed systems!!

Im never flying ETOPS again, in addition to all of these other failures, the left engine decides to spew its guts on approach. Thank the lord I have practised many approaches with an engine at idle, this time I needed it! The thrust asym compensation seems to work well to. I am going to post some pics of this as I think people wont belive me. Currently I am sitting on the tarmac at Eugene airport in desperate need of a stiff drink! Ha ha ha!

nice!

Please check these little tidbits:

1. Have you increased the Maintenance Based Failure Multiplier?

2. How many hours have you still got left before your airplane needs maintenance? 0?

 

The reason I ask, these failures look very familiar from a thread I started earlier on. It seems the bleed system is heavily affected by the Multiplier. Also, the 250 Hrs of intervals between maintenance, get accelerated too.

I've had the same kind of thing in the past, the status page in the aircraft shows a minor fault but no checklist to follow, but in the failures section of the FMC I have a few failures of other systems.

 

Why dosent all the failures appear on the EICAS in the aircraft?

Please check these little tidbits:

1. Have you increased the Maintenance Based Failure Multiplier?

2. How many hours have you still got left before your airplane needs maintenance? 0?

 

The reason I ask, these failures look very familiar from a thread I started earlier on. It seems the bleed system is heavily affected by the Multiplier. Also, the 250 Hrs of intervals between maintenance, get accelerated too.

YES! I increased it to 100X but this was ages ago. I realise it is my own fault but it was still fun resolving it. I had 4 hours before maint before takeoff.

 

What was more surprising was the engine failure. I am still piecing together what happened and at this point don't believe the engine failure was related.

 

I must stress that this situation really tested me, with so many failed systems and an engine quitting on approach and I still landed her manually at a regional airport, at night, with no ILS, and touched down on the markers and stopped well within the reasonable limits. One of the more satisfying flights I have done.

I've had the same kind of thing in the past, the status page in the aircraft shows a minor fault but no checklist to follow, but in the failures section of the FMC I have a few failures of other systems.

 

Why dosent all the failures appear on the EICAS in the aircraft?

 

I'm not familiar with the specific failures mentioned, however, I do recall reading (possibly in one of the manuals) that although the 777 has checklists and EICAS warnings for many of the possible failures, not all.

 

The reason being the sophistication of the system on-board. The 777 will work out internally if a specific failed system(s) can be rectified by the flight crew. If it isn't, and the failure doesn't impact the safety of the flight or regulations etc, then the 777 simply won't burden the flight crew. After all, what is the point of the crew worrying about something if they can neither fix the issue, and it wouldn't effect them or the flight?

 

Once again, I could be wrong, however I am 90% sure I read this (or something along the lines of this) in one of the manuals. Or maybe I am still suffering from 777 dreams :huh:

 

All the best,

Kieron

Hi Wes!

 

Well done in ensuring a safe diversion in these complex circumstances. You're for sure earning your wings.

 

If you feel, after your analyses, that there may be something wrong with the simulation, then it might be the best moment to submit a ticket so that the PMDG guys can take a look before the release of the SP1.

 

HTH

Regards, Richard

The reason being the sophistication of the system on-board. The 777 will work out internally if a specific failed system(s) can be rectified by the flight crew. If it isn't, and the failure doesn't impact the safety of the flight or regulations etc, then the 777 simply won't burden the flight crew. After all, what is the point of the crew worrying about something if they can neither fix the issue, and it wouldn't effect them or the flight?

 

Once again, I could be wrong, however I am 90% sure I read this (or something along the lines of this) in one of the manuals. Or maybe I am still suffering from 777 dreams :huh:

 

Thanks Kieron, I believe you are quite correct! The system only showed me EICAS messages for those failures that I needed to make an immediate decision about, as per the system programming. Naturally, while I did follow the checklists as far as possible, I had to improvise on final when I got a fuel imbalance. I did not have time to follow the exact checklist and so went from memory and opened both XFEED valves and turned off the fuel pumps on the wing with the higher volume. This was due to a failed engine on the other wing. I didn't want issue if I had to go around.

Hi Wes!

 

Well done in ensuring a safe diversion in these complex circumstances. You're for sure earning your wings.

 

If you feel, after your analyses, that there may be something wrong with the simulation, then it might be the best moment to submit a ticket so that the PMDG guys can take a look before the release of the SP1.

 

HTH

Regards, Richard

Thanks Richard! I do not believe there is a bug, merely me pushing the service based failures multiplier to far. I have been itching to try a real emergency not one that I choose but random and unexplained. The only thing in the entire flight that didn't make sense was the uneven truck brake heating after takeoff. This showed no failures in either 777 systems or PMDG failures list.

 

I have to stress that the landing actually had my heart racing at one point; rain, gusting crosswinds, last minute runway change, failed engine, 2 failed HYD systems, no bleed air, cargo fire front and rear, fuel imbalance, its like a sim instructor punched all the buttons at the same time! And I SWEAR I did not trigger any of them manually! Whew!

Great experience, but not one that you would wish on a friend.

 

No bug is a good indication of why we should trust the sim and the B777.

 

I wonder what I will get when my time comes?

 

Cheers, Richard

Great experience, but not one that you would wish on a friend.

 

No bug is a good indication of why we should trust the sim and the B777.

 

I wonder what I will get when my time comes?

 

Cheers, Richard

All I can say is that if the failures come as quick and fast as I got them, you better be ready. I found completing the procedures quite tricky with just me; hence why I skipped the full checklist for fuel imbalance as it was below 3000ft I believe and my workload was to high; I simply used memory items which may or may not be correct in this case. My priority was landing JAL5 not messing around with the fuel balance. I must say even with this level of failures, the 777 stops well on the shortish runway at KEUG (8000ft) using autobrakes 3 and full reverse on the remaining engine. I even managed to taxi off the runway and stop in a remote area for the fire crews to inspect us (yes I imagined this bit).

So here is the truck brake temp imbalance:

And the first set of bleed air issues:

Perhaps the engine failure was caused by one of the valves. Maybe because it wasn't allowed to move as thrust changes it broke off and lodged somewhere in the engine jamming it up lol

Perhaps the engine failure was caused by one of the valves. Maybe because it wasn't allowed to move as thrust changes it broke off and lodged somewhere in the engine jamming it up lol

If that is the case, GE have some work to do!! I believe the valves are actually not "in" the engine airflow so if they broke off they would just sort of fall to the bottom of the cowling.

Good show!   I was stressed out just reading this.  Would love if a real 777 driver or A&P would comment.