Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15; Flight Crew Total 6000; Flight Crew Type 500
Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
Right after rotation heard circuit breakers popping and lost my airspeed and altimeter on the First Officer's PFD. After checking in with departure we told them that we needed to return due to a problem with the aircraft. We were told to level at 3;000 and left turn to 270 degrees to setup for the left downwind; which is the longest runway available. After running the appropriate checklists for the level one items we declared an emergency and were vectored for a 30 mile final and setup early to make sure that none of the failures would effect our approach and landing. The landing normal and uneventful; after taxing in we found out that 7 circuit breakers had popped on rotation; causing the failures and error messages that we had received.
On rotation; numerous circuit breakers popped causing multiple alerts and failure of data on First Officer PFD. Climbed to safe altitude; ran appropriate checklists and declared emergency; air turn back. Once on ramp determined that 7 CB's had popped: engine ignition B Engine #1 // air data computer #1 // hydraulic quantity indicator #3 // hydraulic quantity indicator #1 // turbine bypass valve #3 // APU system and door power // HF Comm #2.
MD11 flight crew reports the sound of circuit breakers tripping as the aircraft rotates and loss of the First Officer's airspeed and altitude indication. An emergency is declared and flight returns to departure airport with no further issues. Seven circuit breakers are found tripped on post flight.