Com-Central.net

From "SOAR" (Capt Tom Bunn)

777 Advisory

This applies only to 777-200 and 777-300 with Rolls-Royce engines on extremely long flights.

You may remember the accident at London's Heathrow airport a few months ago when a BA 777-200 landed just short of the runway due to partial loss of engine power.

It has been determined that the partial loss of power was due to clogging of a device (fuel/oil heat exchanger) through which fuel flows to the engines. There are always some water molecules suspended in the jet fuel. Ordinarily, this does not cause any trouble at all. But on the extremely long flights the 777-200 can make, exposure to very cold temperatures - particularly on flights near the North Pole - can cool the fuel enough so that particles of ice form and collect in the device in the fuel lines. After the ice forms, changes in engine power can cause the ice to be dislodged. The dislodged ice may then move to the unit that controls engine power.

Procedures have been adopted which may take care of the problem. However, the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) is not satisfied with procedures alone, as reported at this link.



The NTSB wants a fix of the problem. However, it is expected that it will take eighteen months to redesign and replace the questionable units. The National Transport Safety Board has stated: " . . . until the current fuel/oil heat exchangers are replaced by heat exchangers more tolerant to ice accretion, additional failures to achieve commanded thrust could occur and could result in a serious accident and, possibly, injuries and deaths."

The NTSB did not specifically say that long flights on the 777 should not be done until the situation is corrected. But, I think they are saying as close to that as they can without upsetting politics between the U.S. and Great Britain.

What I suggest is the following: if you are planning an extremely long trip for which a fifteen to eighteen-hour non-stop flight is offered, don't take the non-stop flight. Instead, break the trip up into flights of a more conventional duration.

BA, Singapore Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines operate 777s with Rolls -Royce engines.

Hey!
Some people can't wait to get off the flight.
This has been a sensible travel option provided to you by us, considerate and forward-thinking, Europeans!