Airbus A320 N649JB

Summary

On 3 August 2023 at about 12:35 local time, a Airbus A320 registered N649JB, operated by Jetblue Airways Corp, was involved in an incident near Jacksonville, Florida, United States. 93 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 August 2023 at 12:35

Classification

Incident

Location

Jacksonville, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Jacksonville International Air (JAX)

Coordinates

30.4862, -81.7508

Aircraft

Airbus A320

Registration

N649JB

Category

Airplane

Year built

2006

Engines

2

Operator

Jetblue Airways Corp

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fort Lauderdale → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

Unk

Light

Day

NTSB number

ENG23LA033

Nobody was injured.

The loss of both Integrated Drive Generators (IDG) due to worn fixed cylinder block bores, which caused the IDGs to be tripped offline and caused the airplane to enter an emergency electrical configuration.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

Information received from JetBlue maintenance and the download of the number 1 generator control unit (GCU) indicated that the number 1 integrated drive generator (IDG) had tripped offline twice over the five days before the incident flight. The digital flight data recorder (DFDR) and GCU data showed that, during the incident flight, the number 1 IDG tripped offline, followed by the number 2 IDG. The loss of both IDGs caused the airplane to enter the emergency electrical configuration and deploy the ram air turbine (RAT). Given the electrical configuration of the airplane at the loss of the number 2 IDG (the APU was not online), the emergency electrical configuration change would cause a temporary loss of the flight deck displays as the electrical system transitioned to power from the RAT. The examination of both the airplane’s IDGs revealed that all of the fixed cylinder block bores were worn beyond tolerance. The IDG manufacturer Collins Aerospace indicated that worn cylinder block bores would make it difficult for an IDG to maintain a constant and consistent frequency; fluctuations in the frequency of the IDG’s output power made it susceptible to faults that could cause the IDG to trip offline.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.