An American Airlines Airbus A321 flying from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City suffered a critical electrical failure shortly after takeoff, forcing the aircraft to make an unscheduled landing in Baltimore. According to reports, the aircraft experienced a dual engine generator failure, leading to the deployment of its Ram Air Turbine (RAT).

The RAT is deployed automatically in cases of electrical failure, delivering enough backup power to keep critical systems functioning. After initially attempting to land back at Philadelphia, the pilots eventually touched down safely in Baltimore, with no reported injuries.

American Airlines A321 RAT Deploys After Generator Failures

Credit: Vincenzo Pace

As reported by the Aviation Herald, American Airlines Flight 1193 from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) on Thursday evening encountered the electrical failure soon after taking off. The Airbus A321-200 (registration: N556UW) departed Philadelphia at 7:25 PM local time, approximately 45 minutes later than its scheduled departure, ahead of a roughly five-hour flight to Salt Lake City.

Around 20 minutes after departure, as it was climbing through 26,000 feet, data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft halted its climb before making a sharp turn back towards Philadelphia and squawking 7700, the code for a general emergency. The aircraft then diverted its course again after a decision was made to land in Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). Recordings of the flight deck’s communications with air traffic control (ATC) via LiveATC.net reveal that one of the pilots reported the issue as an “electrical problem,” but did not elaborate any further. One of the pilots told ATC,

“It’s dark up here, we’re cleaning up a bunch of stuff… Having a bit of a flight control issue, but nothing uncontrollable.”

Flying In A Dark Cockpit

Credit: Shutterstock

Operating on emergency power provided by the RAT, the pilots would initially have flown with many of their displays blacked out as the aircraft entered an Emergency Electrical Configuration. Amid these challenging conditions, the pilots must be commended for performing their emergency checklists and keeping their composure. At this stage, it isn’t clear whether the pilots were able to restore full or partial power to the plane before landing.

The A321 has an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) — a small gas turbine engine located in its tail — that can provide power in the event of an electrical failure, and pilots will have attempted to turn it on, unless it was inoperative. The APU is typically on while passengers are boarding and after the plane has landed, but is generally turned off for the duration of the flight itself. Unlike the RAT, which is designed to provide power for critical flight systems only, the APU is capable of restoring more functionality to the cockpit.

However, the APU is included on Minimum Equipment Lists (MEL), which means an aircraft is allowed to fly even if its APU is not operative. There are also reports that the flight was delayed taking off due to maintenance work, taking off around 45 minutes later than scheduled. Simple Flying has reached out to American Airlines for comment on this incident and will update this story accordingly.

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About The Aircraft Involved

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Airbus A321-200 involved in this incident is a 13-year-old former US Airways aircraft that passed over into American’s fleet in late 2013. The interior was reconfigured in 2021 to add additional premium capacity – the aircraft can now seat up to 190 passengers, with 20 in domestic first and 170 in economy.

The A321 remains on the ground in Baltimore more than two days after the incident. Data from ch-aviation shows the airframe has accumulated over 42,000 flight hours and 17,500 flight cycles since entering service over 13 years ago. Thursday’s situation demonstrated the importance of having redundancies onboard aircraft, a key philosophy that Airbus has integrated into its planes.