Originally Posted by
frozenboxhauler
Hello all. The latest news about "new" waypoints being flown on MH0370 has me stumped.
I, like all of you are trying to figure this mystery out.
I fly the MD11 and have a question for you 777 guys/gals. I'm wondering if they had had a dual FMC failure and were down to using the standby flight plan? Here is my question to all of you.
Early in my 17 years on the airplane, I once caught, during flight, that the standby flight plan in MCDU3 had been activated (once activated it is out of the loop as far as cross talking between MCDU 1and 2) and while we were over the North Pacific, enroute to Japan, our standby flight plan still had a flight plan that was from 3 days prior with a flight from Germany to the US!
Since then, during my preflight, I ensure that the standby flight plan is not "active" in the #3 MCDU in order that all 3 can cross talk.
Does the FMS in the 777 have the same logic when the Standby Flight plan has been activated due to a dual FMC failure?
I can't see an 18,000 hour LCA having an issue with this. The F/O was in training (or had relatively recently transitioned to the A/C) and had the Captain become incapacitated for any reason (strictly conjecture on my part), could this have played a role?
Thank you,
fbh
I flew Delta's MD11's for 4 years (1996-2000), and I've been on the 777 for the past 8 years. The 777 is not nearly as automated as the MD11. In the 777, you have to turn on all the pumps and packs on the overhead, whereas in the MD, it does all that for you. It doesn't have a "standby flight plan" and the third MCDU is rarely used for anything, other than Sat Com calls or calling the F/A's in Door mode. It doesn't do "Route Copy" either.
It only has Route 1 and Route 2. We only use Route 2 to load our ETPs and our divert airports. It gets reloaded every time we load a new Route 1, unless we are flying a short domestic leg, like ATL-LAX, where we are not going to load a Route 2 with divert airports.
If you lose both FMS heads you can use the third head for Standby Nav, but it's not going to jump over to Route 2 by itself, you have to activate and execute Route 2.