BA 777 circling Bracknell sounding like a helicopter

[silverfoxcc]

It has just made three circuits over Bracknell about 3000ft. sounding VERY strange have a bit of video, anybody ITK have updates?

[eharding]

Sure it wasn't a Delta 767 DAL1?

[silverfoxcc]

It had a blue under belly thata why i thought BA but couldnt see the tail as it was right above, but it did sound rough

[silverfoxcc]

pprune confirms Delta

[aeropilot]

silverfoxcc said:

pprune confirms Delta

Also suggests landed back at LHR with RAT deployed, which would explain the strange noise while circling and presumably burning off as much fuel as poss.

[Collectingbrass]

Two bird strikes at LHR this morning, at 09:27 & 09:35. Flight DL001 returned to LHR as a result.

He must have been burning off fuel to get down to their landing weight?

I'm a concrete farmer there; not a go to airport B, return to airport A button pusher

Edited by Collectingbrass on Tuesday 13th September 14:23

[RizzoTheRat]

aeropilot said:

Also suggests landed back at LHR with RAT deployed, which would explain the strange noise while circling and presumably burning off as much fuel as poss.

Is it normal procedure to deploy the RAT as soon as there's an engine problem? I'd have assumed as he was flying under power the engines would still be generating plenty of electricity.

[pete]

The Delta 76 or 777 flew about 1200ft over my back garden in Windsor this morning. My reaction was "uh oh, that doesn't sound healthy", enough to distract me from unconsciously identifying exactly what it was. It sounded very odd, like it was on one engine plus the RAT.

[anonymous-user]

RizzoTheRat said:

aeropilot said:

Also suggests landed back at LHR with RAT deployed, which would explain the strange noise while circling and presumably burning off as much fuel as poss.

Is it normal procedure to deploy the RAT as soon as there's an engine problem? I'd have assumed as he was flying under power the engines would still be generating plenty of electricity.

In my old lot, people used to deploy the RAT after an engine failure as a kind of belt and braces thing. Unfortunately the RAT is actually pretty unreliable on the 757/767 and once during an air test the RAT fell off when it had been deployed. Now people tend not to unless directed from the checklist.

If you have an engine failure you usually start the APU (on most types) as a standby source of electrical power.

Do people really think they could hear the RAT? I've never heard it on the ground myself perhaps there was also some unusual noise from the APU or the APU inlet door deflecting the airflow that made the noise.

For people wondering about rats the RAT or ram air turbine is a little windmill that deploys automatically in certain instances under the aircraft to help produce some electricity and other stuff if you're having a bad day. It can also be deployed manually by pressing a button/handle in the flight deck.

It looks like this (photo from the internet)




And in action



It powers different stuff on different aircraft and can produce electricity down to some fairly slow speeds to help with things like electric brakes (if fitted)

Edited by el stovey on Tuesday 13th September 14:58

[eharding]

el stovey said:

Do people really think they could hear the RAT?

Definitely - very odd kind of low moaning. The last time I heard one was up near Banbury last year, or maybe the year before - that was making a hell of a racket which turned out to be a RAT under test - not sure if that was due to higher airspeeds. Saw the 767 orbiting a couple of times to the South, and then poking off back to Heathrow to the North.

Didn't look anywhere as low as 1500 feet though! - looked to be well inside the TMA.

[anonymous-user]

eharding said:

Definitely - very odd kind of low moaning.

Like a sort of materials failing and bolts shearing sound?

[eldar]

Passengers?

[FourWheelDrift]

eldar said:

Passengers?

They were thrown out over Bracknell to lighten the load.

[pete]

eharding said:

Didn't look anywhere as low as 1500 feet though! - looked to be well inside the TMA.

I'm about 5.5nm from the threshold of 09L, so airliners are more like 1700ft above my garden assuming a 3 degree approach. You've just inspired me to have a look at the instrument approach plate rather than guessing :-)

There was a much more pronounced "brrrrrrrrr" than you'd normally get from a twin on approach (and I'm getting one every minute or so at the moment to compare with!). Whether that was the RAT, or if one engine was shut down is an interesting question; it's possible the noise of just one high bypass fan is different to two interfering with each other. Or it could have been something else. It was a unique sound though.

[Wobbegong]

FourWheelDrift said:

eldar said:

Passengers?

They were thrown out over Bracknell to lighten the load.

[Iva Barchetta]

Thank you to "el stovey" for clarification of what RAT means as I had no idea.

[silverfoxcc]

When it passed over my house first time around, i went looking for a helicopter, and a low one at that!!. All i could see was the 767 which was heading towards Crowthorne. Second time over i watched it again and realised it was that making the noise, Third time I thought i got it on video but screwed up, however it was still sounding like a ragged Ford Transit. and no pax landed in my back garden!

[perdu]

silverfoxcc said:

When it passed over my house first time around, i went looking for a helicopter, and a low one at that!!. All i could see was the 767 which was heading towards Crowthorne. Second time over i watched it again and realised it was that making the noise, Third time I thought i got it on video but screwed up, however it was still sounding like a ragged Ford Transit. and no pax landed in my back garden!

Saved you sweeping up

[budgie smuggler]

Courtesy of Busta Level on pprune
https://youtu.be/U93IlIGKwHQ

Turn speakers right up

[eccles]

On Tristars we used to do a functional check of the RAT during a 'D' check. It provides hydraulic power on this aircraft and we'd check it by attaching a Hyd rig to the aircraft and put full system pressure (3000 psi) through the RAT backwards so it drove the propeller.
I can definitely say it makes a very loud noise on the ground and I've seen two fail due to seized bearings, one of which resulted in the prop coming off and shooting across the hangar at life threatening speed! After this a cage was erected around the RAT during functionals.