B787 Dreamliner Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 153; Flight Crew Total 16678; Flight Crew Type 1502
Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Human Factors; MEL; Procedure; Aircraft; Staffing
As noted in the aircraft maintenance release from an engine generator had failed on the previous flight. The maintenance release from indicated that it had been trouble shot and returned to service. Also in the maintenance release from was the failure of the APU control.  The checklist was run for associated generator; a reset was attempted and not successful the APU was started. A crew meeting was initiated and a call to [Maintenance] and the Dispatcher was initiated. As the checklist tells you to run the APU if available the Dispatcher gave us a figure of approximately four thousand pounds. As discussed by the crew were uncomfortable with the remaining fuel at destination with expected weather deviations. A call through Dispatch with the 787 Fleet manager ensued and a plan agreed to by all was to use the APU only when needed ie. galley power. We thus continued the flight; but all were uncomfortable with the amount of time still remaining and whether the APU selector would fail again and as mentioned would the APU function normally for the remainder of the flight.
B787 Captain reported misgivings over procedures following a generator failure in flight during ETOPS operations.