ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 314228
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| Date: | Friday 10 October 2014 |
| Time: | 13:00 UTC |
| Type: |  Boeing 787-8 |
| Owner/operator: | United Airlines |
| Registration: | N26906 |
| MSN: | 34829/77 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2012 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 6582 hours |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | near London -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) |
| Houston-George Bush Intercontinental Airport, TX (IAH/KIAH) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
A Boeing 787-8 operated by United Airlines was struck by lightning and three of five primary display units went blank, a status message related to a power distribution channel was displayed, and the captain's forward windshield heat became inoperative. The standby instruments and the heads up displays (HUD) were unaffected by the event. The lightning strike occurred approximately six minutes after take-off during the climb portion of the flight.
Based on crew reports and verified with images from the crew and the EAFR, the flight crew lost the use of three of the five head down displays following a lightning strike. The crew followed published procedures, however the procedures did not contain a checklist related to a partial loss of displays. After the crew elected to follow the "Loss of All Displays Checklist", none of the affected displays recovered to an operational state. The crew did land the aircraft successfully using the remaining displays available to the crew. All of the displays did recover normal operation after accomplishing a power cycle to the displays while the aircraft was on the ground. No procedures existed for a power reset of the displays to occur while in flight, which most likely would have resulted in a restoration of the displays.
Reviewing the design and display certification requirements, the displays passed their respective certification testing required by the FAA. Supplemental testing by the investigation also showed the displays operating satisfactorily at testing levels that were above levels specified in the original certification of the aircraft and system. However, when subjecting the displays to testing that was based on different standardized system level testing (typically associated with military aircraft) that was not required to be conducted for display unit or aircraft certification, the failure could be repeated. This failure was attributed to the display's response to a rapid transient radiated electric field. The electrical field analysis of the aircraft cockpit confirmed that similar electrical transients can be present during certain lightning strikes experienced by an aircraft. Although the displays passed the required certification testing required by the FAA, it was determined that certain environmental conditions exist that could cause adverse conditions of the display operation resulting in a loss of the display.
Probable Cause: A shutdown of the displays due to the inability to operate through a rapid transient radiated electric field brought on by a near field lightning strike. Contributing to the loss of displays for the remainder of the flight was the lack of guidance to the crew to perform a controlled power reset to the display.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB ENG15IA037
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 18 June 2013 | N26906 | United Airlines | 0 | Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, WA (SEA/KSEA) |  |
non |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 02-Jun-2023 14:37 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
| 05-Jun-2023 13:24 | harro | Updated |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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