A B777 diverted to a distant domestic station vice its planned transatlantic destination when the Right Generator failed during initial climb and they had insufficient fuel to complete the flight while running the APU for electrical requirements. Fuel dumping was required but minimized vice returning to the departure airport.
Synopsis
A B777 diverted to a distant domestic station vice its planned transatlantic destination when the Right Generator failed during initial climb and they had insufficient fuel to complete the flight while running the APU for electrical requirements. Fuel dumping was required but minimized vice returning to the departure airport.
Narrative
While on initial climb out in the vicinity of FL180 an ELEC GEN OFF R message illuminated; with a corresponding OFF light in the GEN switch. We continued climb and referred to the associated Checklist; completing the appropriate steps including APU start; and then referring to the flight manual. Generator reset was unsuccessful. We established a conference with Dispatch and Maintenance Control. At Maintenance Control's suggestion; we attempted a one time only GEN switch reset using Captains Emergency Authority to exceed the single reset attempt limit specified in the checklist. The generator did not reset. Almost immediately an ELEC GEN DRIVE R warning message was observed. We completed the appropriate checklists and; after advising Maintenance Control and dispatch; informed the purser of our situation. By this time we had reached initial cruise altitude of FL330. Since the checklists plainly state that extended operations can be conducted safely; the decision was made to divert to ZZZ rather than return to our departure airport. We did not have adequate fuel to continue almost 10 hours to ZZZZ with the APU burning. We also needed to dump fuel prior to landing; and diverting to ZZZ minimized fuel dump. Finally; ZZZ was the only station that could provide a spare 777 and crew in a timely manner to get our passengers to their destination. 33;000 LBS of fuel were dumped in VMC conditions over sparsely populated terrain. We referred to the Diversion Checklist in the Quick Reference Section. Much of the flight to ZZZ was spent coordinating the details of moving our passengers to a new airplane after landing and keeping our passengers and crew informed. After checking landing performance; we made a normal approach and landing at ZZZ. An emergency was not declared and special handling was not requested from ATC at any time.
Second reporter narrative
In light of the fact we had to start the APU; Dispatch did the calculations and found our fuel situation would be inadequate upon reaching the airport.We landed uneventfully in VMC and taxied to the gate with no further issues enroute.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.