MD-11
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency; General Maintenance Action
Weather; Aircraft
On climb-out; we received a Gen 1 off alert; followed shortly by a Gen 3 off alert. While flying the published departure; we began to receive numerous (too many to count) alerts for the electrical system. Displays were intermittently shutting off and reconfiguring as electrical systems came on and off line. With the captain now hand flying (autopilot and autothrottles unavailable); I communicated with ATC and started working through the checklists for the highest priority alerts that we had. We elected to start the APU to use that generator if needed. Once we leveled off at FL280; I took the flight controls so that the captain could trouble-shoot and run through additional checklists. We were able to re-establish several electrical systems; had a working autopilot; and could navigate using IRUs and the number 1 FMS. Things seemed to stabilize; the airplane was flying well; but we still had a lot of alerts displayed. We suspected water in the E&E compartment was the cause of the electrical malfunctions and numerous alerts. After checking weather at several airports; and considering that the airplane was flying well and we weren't losing any more systems; we decided it best to continue to destination. As soon as we began our descent; things quickly got worse. We lost several displays; all navaids; and eventually VHF comm 1. We declared an emergency with center and they did a great job of expediting us with vectors for a visual approach. Upon block-in in; maintenance confirmed water in several compartments housing avionics and electrical equipment. MD11 crewmembers are regularly made aware of the danger of water entering the a/c during the loading process; and both the captain and I noted that the cargo door and cabin door were downwind of the rain. It wasn't raining heavily. So neither of us was too concerned. Loading was already in progress when we arrived at the gate; so we don't know how long the doors had been open.
Passing 500 feet on SID; we started to receive multiple electrical faults and warnings including momentary loss of all flight instruments. The pilot monitoring was able to get one AC bus powered as we climbed above the overcast layer and continued to assess the situation. Unable to land due to local weather; we continued in VMC conditions in non RVSM airspace to our VFR destination. When descent was initiated; multiple electrical failures began again as in initial climb. Performed a visual approach and taxied to gate.Given the weather at departure; frequency and nature of alerts we assumed water had intruded into the electrical bay of aircraft. Maintenance found excess water in all belly compartments. The preflight includes inspection for standing water in entryway and around main cargo door when precipitation is present; however no excess was noticed. Perhaps maintenance should inspect below deck before each departure even though no signs are present to alleviate any chances of recurrence.
MD-11 flight crew experiences numerous electrical faults; including two generator faults; during initial climb with the Captain flying. The APU is started and the electrical system is stabilized; although several faults remain. During descent the process starts over and an emergency is declared for landing at destination. Maintenance finds water in several compartments housing avionics and electrical equipment.