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A dc-10 flight crew suffered recurring failures of display units and fmcs during their descent to a safe landing in VMC. Heavy rains at the ramp prior to their departure may have entered the aircraft before takeoff as ramp personnel noted water dripping from the underside of the aircraft as they taxied in the ramp following the incident.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1086987 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201305 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | Marginal |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | DC-10 30 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Navigational Equipment and Processing |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying First Officer |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
Descending through FL190 all three of the captain's dus [display units] went blank. I immediately transferred the airplane to the first officer whose dus were fine. I then did the in range checklist and made sure our altimeters were set correctly. The first officer subsequently lost his FMC. The captain's side came back but only in the standby mode. We able to get first officer's side [FMC] back but it subsequently failed again. We decided to declare an emergency to get radar vectors to final and receive priority handling since there was mountainous terrain and fuel was starting to be a factor although either at the time was VMC. We determined the landing speeds from the QRH for our weight; [and] then flew a visual approach to a landing runway. The first officer flew the visual approach since his side had better data when compared to the standby airspeed. We figure we had a dual FMC failure; probably caused by rain at our departure airport.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A DC-10 flight crew suffered recurring failures of display units and FMCs during their descent to a safe landing in VMC. Heavy rains at the ramp prior to their departure may have entered the aircraft before takeoff as ramp personnel noted water dripping from the underside of the aircraft as they taxied in the ramp following the incident.
Narrative: Descending through FL190 all three of the Captain's DUs [Display Units] went blank. I immediately transferred the airplane to the First Officer whose DUs were fine. I then did the in range checklist and made sure our altimeters were set correctly. The First Officer subsequently lost his FMC. The Captain's side came back but only in the standby mode. We able to get first officer's side [FMC] back but it subsequently failed again. We decided to declare an emergency to get radar vectors to final and receive priority handling since there was mountainous terrain and fuel was starting to be a factor although either at the time was VMC. We determined the landing speeds from the QRH for our weight; [and] then flew a visual approach to a landing runway. The First Officer flew the visual approach since his side had better data when compared to the standby airspeed. We figure we had a dual FMC failure; probably caused by rain at our departure airport.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.