B747-400 EXPERIENCES LOSS OF OIL QUANTITY AND PRESSURE FROM NO 4 ENGINE ON DEPARTURE. LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES MAKE FUEL DUMPING AND RETURN TO DEP ARPT DIFFICULT.

2007-07 · NASA ASRS report 746669

Date: 2007-07 · Aircraft: B747-400 · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical

Synopsis

B747-400 EXPERIENCES LOSS OF OIL QUANTITY AND PRESSURE FROM NO 4 ENGINE ON DEPARTURE. LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES MAKE FUEL DUMPING AND RETURN TO DEP ARPT DIFFICULT.

Narrative

SHORTLY AFTER TKOF WE NOTICED THAT THE #4 ENG OIL QUANTITY WAS LOW AND DECREASING. WE CONSULTED WITH MAINT CTL AND WE WERE TOLD TO MONITOR OIL TEMP AND PRESSURE AND NOT TO WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT THE QUANTITY. ABOUT AN HR AFTER DEP WE NOTICED THAT ALTHOUGH THE TEMP WAS NORMAL WE WERE LOSING OIL PRESSURE SLOWLY. WHILE ALL OTHER ENGS WERE OVER 200 PSI; #4 WAS JUST OVER 100 PSI. WE CONTACTED MAINT CTL AGAIN AND ASKED THEM WHEN THE EICAS WOULD ILLUMINATE A WARNING; AS THE ACFT MANUAL DOES NOT RECOMMEND ACTION UNTIL AN EICAS IS ISSUED. WE WERE TOLD THAT THE EICAS WOULD ILLUMINATE AT 75 PSI. THE MAINT CTLR ASKED US TO THROTTLE THE #4 ENG TO IDLE. WHEN WE COMPLIED WITH THE REQUEST THE PSI DROPPED FROM 100 PSI TO 75 PSI; THE EICAS ILLUMINATED AND I SHUT DOWN THE ENG VIA THE FLT MANUAL PROC. WE DECLARED A PAN PAN PAN AND TOLD THE CTLR THAT WE HAD SHUT DOWN THE #4 ENG AND NEEDED A RETURN TO ZZZZ. THE CTLRS WERE VERY DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND AND DO NOT HAVE A COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE OR HAVE THE ABILITY TO HANDLE ANYTHING BUT ROUTINE COMS. THIS MADE AN IRREGULAR OP MUCH MORE TAXING THAN WAS NECESSARY. I WAS ASKED THE SAME QUESTIONS OVER AND OVER. MY REQUEST TO DUMP FUEL WAS DELAYED OVER AN HR WHILE I WAS VECTORED TO A PRESCRIBED POINT SOME 80 MI W OF ZZZZ. I WAS RADAR VECTORED IN WHAT SEEMED LIKE A HOLDING PATTERN ABOUT 40 MI LONG. WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO START DUMPING AT APPROX 80 MI FROM XX AND TO STOP DUMPING AT APPROX 40 MI FROM YY. AT THAT POINT WE WERE TOLD TO CLB AND TURN 180 DEGS OUTBOUND. AT ABOUT 80 MI WE WERE TOLD TO DSND; TURN 180 DEGS AND COMMENCE ANOTHER DUMP. BTWN BOTH THE CTLR AND OUR CREW ASKING EACH OTHER TO REPEAT INSTRUCTIONS; CLBING; DSNDING; DUMPING; RUNNING CHKLISTS; AND DEALING WITH DISPATCH (WHO NEEDED TO KNOW WHERE AND WHEN WE WERE DUMPING) AS WELL AS CABIN ISSUES WE WERE CLOSE TO TASK SATURATION. AFTER DUMPING TO LNDG WT WE RECEIVED CLRNC TO LAND WITHOUT INCIDENT. I LATER RECEIVED A TELEPHONE CALL FROM MAINT CTL ASKING IF THE OIL PRESSURE #4 ENG HAD GONE BELOW 70 PSI WHICH IS THEIR LIMIT FOR THE ENG AND REQUIRES ENG REMOVAL AND OVERHAUL. I REPLIED THAT WE DID NOT GO BELOW 70 PSI. IN THE FUTURE I WILL SHUT DOWN THE ENG EARLIER AND NOT GET SO CLOSE TO THIS LIMIT. IF EICAS IS TIPPED AT 75 PSI AND THE CREW IS UNAWARE OF A PROB; THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO GET THE BOOK OUT AND COMMENCE AN ENG SHUTDOWN BEFORE ENG DAMAGE. ALSO IF THE ATC HAD A DESIGNATED HOLDING PATTERN FOR DUMPING AT A SINGLE ALT IT WOULD GO A LONG WAY TO MAKE FUEL DUMPING EASIER AND LESS TAXING ON A POTENTIALLY BUSY CREW.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.