Narrative:

On departure at approximately 5000 ft we noticed a status message cue on the lower EICAS. Out of 10;000 ft I selected the status page and there as a 'main batt charger' message displayed. We consulted our flight manuals and determined that this indicated that the main battery charger was inoperative but there was not further information or procedure checklist to follow; no action required. In an abundance of caution; we informed dispatch; and asked for a consult with maintenance. VHF communication was intermittent owing to terrain but maintenance got very excited and requested an immediate return to our departure airport stating that we had approximately thirty minutes to get the aircraft on the ground owing to pending multiple electrical faults; regarding the 767 incident on recent memory. As a crew we discounted the scenario of impending doom but complied with dispatches request; declared an emergency and requested airport rescue and fire fighting standby due to the need to land overweight. We informed dispatch and station of our intentions and executed a visual approach. First officer made an extremely smooth touchdown and we taxied to a gate without incident. On shutdown at the gate; the engines continued to run for approximately one minute after moving fuel control switches to cutoff and we received red annotated low oil pressure warnings; engine lp pump fail warnings and noticed that only the spar cutoff valves had functioned. Maintenance determined that the battery bus distribution circuit breaker had popped causing virtually all the abnormalities. I pointedly request an answer to the following. Since when does a status message demand a declaration of an emergency? If the answer to the above is yes it does; then why is there no guidance or procedure in our relevant publication? I am informed that there previously was a bulletin regarding this and several other status messages but said information is now removed. Based on the crew's system knowledge; the loss of the battery charger did not warrant any action beyond a maintenance write-up at intended destination as there was no further abnormals indicated. There is no guidance beyond advisory that the charger has failed in our manuals. We could find no discussion of the truly offending circuit breakers on our manuals.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 EICAS alerted a Status Message 'Main Batt Charger' after takeoff. Fearing battery depletion an emergency return to the departure airport was completed. The Battery Bus Distribution Circuit Breaker was found popped.

Narrative: On departure at approximately 5000 FT we noticed a status message cue on the lower EICAS. Out of 10;000 Ft I selected the status page and there as a 'Main Batt Charger' message displayed. We consulted our flight manuals and determined that this indicated that the main battery charger was inoperative but there was not further information or procedure checklist to follow; no action required. In an abundance of caution; we informed Dispatch; and asked for a consult with Maintenance. VHF communication was intermittent owing to terrain but Maintenance got very excited and requested an immediate return to our departure airport stating that we had approximately thirty minutes to get the aircraft on the ground owing to pending multiple electrical faults; regarding the 767 incident on recent memory. As a crew we discounted the scenario of impending doom but complied with dispatches request; declared an emergency and requested Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting standby due to the need to land overweight. We informed Dispatch and station of our intentions and executed a visual approach. First Officer made an extremely smooth touchdown and we taxied to a gate without incident. On shutdown at the gate; the engines continued to run for approximately one minute after moving fuel control switches to cutoff and we received Red annotated Low Oil pressure warnings; Engine LP pump fail warnings and noticed that only the spar cutoff valves had functioned. Maintenance determined that the Battery Bus Distribution circuit breaker had popped causing virtually all the abnormalities. I pointedly request an answer to the following. Since when does a status message demand a declaration of an emergency? If the answer to the above is yes it does; then why is there no guidance or procedure in our relevant publication? I am informed that there previously was a bulletin regarding this and several other status messages but said information is now removed. Based on the crew's system knowledge; the loss of the battery charger did not warrant any action beyond a maintenance write-up at intended destination as there was no further abnormals indicated. There is no guidance beyond advisory that the charger has failed in our manuals. We could find no discussion of the truly offending circuit breakers on our manuals.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.