Flame-out on Air France 777-300ER followed aborted take-off after warning system indicated undercarriage problem
Boeing, General Electric and Air France are trying to determine why one of the two GE90-115B engines on a Boeing 777-300ER flamed out shortly after a take-off was aborted due to an undercarriage warning.
The crew of the Air France aircraft, bound for Tokyo, abandoned take-off at Paris on 30 August after an apparent alert on the engine indicating and crew alerting system (EICAS) warning them the main gear was not in the "centred and locked" position. The aftmost axle of the 777's two six-wheeled main gear units pivots to reduce turning radius, and centralising the gear is required before take-off.
The EICAS is designed to warn the crew and effectively prevent take-off if the throttles move beyond a pre-set percentage of full take-off power with the main gear in the "unlocked" position. "We've been in this position before where crews have just wanted to line up and go," says Boeing, which adds that the in-built safety system worked as planned.
"We're trying to figure out what happened to the engine," says Boeing, which, with GE, stresses the aborted take-off was "not due to a flame-out or engine failure of any kind". GE says it is "trying to figure out exactly when the flame-out occurred and what caused it".
Flight International understands that, even though the engine involved decelerated normally, the powerplant then went uncommanded to "sub-idle". It is not yet known whether the incident is in any way related to two known earlier in-flight shut-down incidents with the GE90-115B, at least one of which is thought to have been connected to a fuel system problem.
GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
Source: Flight International
