United says failed generator forced 787 landing
CHICAGO (AP) - United Airlines says a failed electrical generator is the reason one of its new Boeing 787s made an emergency landing in New Orleans.
The flight from Houston to Newark diverted to New Orleans shortly after takeoff on Tuesday. No one was hurt.
United says one of the plane's six electrical generators failed. It says pilots learned of the failure from an alert in the cockpit.
The plane remains grounded while the generator is replaced and the plane is checked further.
The 787 depends more on electrical power than other Boeing planes. That's because it uses electricity instead of air from its turbines to power its main hydraulic system.
United Continental Holdings Inc. got its first 787 in September. It says its other two 787s are still flying.
The flight from Houston to Newark diverted to New Orleans shortly after takeoff on Tuesday. No one was hurt.
United says one of the plane's six electrical generators failed. It says pilots learned of the failure from an alert in the cockpit.
The plane remains grounded while the generator is replaced and the plane is checked further.
The 787 depends more on electrical power than other Boeing planes. That's because it uses electricity instead of air from its turbines to power its main hydraulic system.
United Continental Holdings Inc. got its first 787 in September. It says its other two 787s are still flying.
This aircraft is jinxed and it is just a matter of time before one is lost. Terrible.
@Sam Lopez  Lol...You say this just because a generator failed? Shows you know nothing about airplanes!
Problems keep happening....those management should resign their post,
they are NOT doing their job ! I will fire them all !!!!
If the problem was due to the a failed generator it really isn't a problem of Boeing, but rather Hamilton Sunstrand as they are the supplier of the generators and most of the electrical system on the 787.
No big deal...if the generator on a 37 goes out it doesn't make the news. I'm hoping for another trip to Japan so I can take the ANA flight.
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Mike
I will never fly on this plane...
 @Grumpa What can't afford a ticket?
@Grumpa: I agree. This is one buggy airplane. I suspect when they get all of them worked out it will be a highly reliable and fuel efficient plane.
I'm not aware of any aircrft that uses "air from it's turbines" to power it's hydraulics. They are either electrically driven pumps or driven directly off the engine gearbox. On the other hand many airconditioning systems do use bleed air from the engine to run heating/cooling/pressurization systems as well as thermal anti-ice systems.Â
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There is an excellent article here that expalins the 787 "no bleed" system very well: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_4_07/article_02_1.html
@JEPSEAÂ Â The 777, 767, and 747 use Air Driven Pumps (ADP) that are driven off the pneumatic system.Â
Here is a link to the 777 Hydraulic Control Panel.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/flightblogger/3884689473/
Notice the center system has both Alternating Current Motor Pumps (ACMP) and ADP's. The left and right systems both use one Engine Driven Pump (EDP) and one ACMP.
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 I donât know if the 757 uses ADP's but I do know the 737 and 787 do not.Â
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As you stated above, the 787 does not have a pneumatic, aka bleed, system. The 787 uses a more powerful electrical system in its place to operate the air conditioning pack, wing anti-ice, and engine start.
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As far as Unitedâs emergency due to a loss of a generator...I really donât see the need for the return. There had to have been other issues that are not being disclosed. You can dispatch the 787 with one of the 4 engine generators inop. There are still 2 other generators on the APU, which normally gets shut down a few minutes after takeoff.
 @JEPSEA its a pretty misguided article, especially when bleed air comes from different stages in the compressor and not the turbine.
@nobelprizeme DylaJ: While KOMO isn't completely blameless this is an AP article. Other than that I agree. The writer doesn't know jack about airplanes and should leave the technical writing to someone else.
 @JEPSEA thank you for the clarification! I was trying to make sense from that stupid quote. "if the turbines power the hydraulic unit then who powers the turbines?" YEAAHH... the engine... KOMO strikes again!