Service difficulty report · Fuel Control · Amd FALCON10

Difficulty date
March 17, 2011
Submitted
March 28, 2011
Operation
Air carrier
Aircraft
N77SF
Make and model
Amd FALCON10
Aircraft serial
141
Aircraft time
11,794 hours, 12,200 cycles
Engine
Garrtt TFE73121C
Engine time
11,485 hours, 11,873 cycles
Part
Fuel Control
Part number
307080021
Part serial
A4635C
Condition
Malfunctioned
Location
Lt Engine
Part time
3,250 hours, 3,241 cycles
Stage of operation
CR
How discovered
O
Nature of condition
J
Precautionary procedure
K

As reported to the FAA. Reports are unverified, and codes are left as the FAA publishes them.

What was found

JUST PRIOR TO DESCENT TO SCHEDULED AIRPORT, THE LT ENGINE COMPUTER ANNUNCIATOR ILLUMINATED. FOLLOWING AFM PROCEDURES THE COMPUTER WAS RESET AND THE LIGHT WOULD NOT REMAIN EXTINGUISHED. ALL OTHER ENGINE INDICATIONS WERE NORMAL. A SAFE LANDING WAS MADE. THE PILOT WAS DIRECTED TO RETRIEVE FAULT CODES MANUALLY FROM THE ENGINE COMPUTER WHICH REVEALED A FAULT IN THE FUEL CONTROL UNIT (FCU) POWER LEVER ANGLE TRANSMITTER. MAINTENANCE WAS ARRANGED FROM A NEARBY AIRPORT TO ARRIVE THE FOLLOWING DAY TO LOOK INTO THE ISSUE. AFTER ANALYZING THE NR 1 DIGITAL ELECTRONIC ENGINE COMPUTER (DEEC) LIVE DATA, IT COULD NOT BE DETERMINED THAT THERE WERE ANY FAULTS. NO FAULT CODES WERE RECORDED BY REQUESTING FLT ON THE HTT INTERFACE, BUT THE MEMORY WAS FULL AND REQUIRED DOWNLOAD. THE ENGINE WAS STARTED AND RAN FOR A LENGTH OF TIME WITH THE COMPUTER BEING MONITORED AND NO FAULTS WERE SHOWN AND THE INITIAL FAULT COULD NOT BE DUPLICATED. AN INSPECTION WAS MADE OF THE WIRE HARNESS AND NO DEFECTS WERE FOUND. THE AIRCRAFT WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE AND THE DOWNLOADED DATA SENT TO JET CARE TO BE ANALYZED. AFTER THE AIRCRAFT ARRIVED BACK AT HOME BASE, THE DOWNLOAD FROM THE DEEC WAS RECEIVED AND VIEWED BY THE DIRECTOR OF MAINTENANCE. AFTER A REVIEW OF THE DOWNLOAD IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE WERE STORED IN THE FAULT HISTORY. A CURRENT DOWNLOAD OF THE DEEC WAS MADE AND SHOWED NO FAULTS ON THE TRIP TO HOME BASE. THE AIRCRAFT WAS SCHEDULED AND FLOWN TO A MAINTENANCE FACILITY, WITHOUT INCIDENT, FOR FURTHER REVIEW. A MORE DETAILED INSPECTION OF THE HARNESS REVEALED NO FAULTS AND IT WAS DECIDED TO REPLACE THE FUEL CONTROL UNIT AS IT IS THE MOST LIKELY UNIT TO CAUSE THIS TYPE OF FAILURE. THE AIRCRAFT HAS BEEN RETURNED TO SERVICE. TO DATE WE HAVE NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THIS FAULT OCCURRED OR WHY IT COULD NOT BE VIEWED ON THE DEEC HTT LIVE DATA. IN THE FUTURE, THE DOWNLOADED DATA WILL BE REVIEWED PRIOR TO RETURNING THE AIRCRAFT TO SERVICE.