Sending all the data all the time isn't feasible (yet), but you could have aircraft send some type of basic message every 15 minutes when not in radar range with minimal info (UID, heading, alt, KIAS, VS, Systems Status, etc.). Then if there's some event, like the AP disconnecting and/or a signific...
Jump to postI don't know how these airstairs were used back in the day, but I know Ryanair has them and uses them occasionally on their 737 fleet. If such a cost conscious airline like Ryanair is using them the time/cost savings during turnarounds probably outweighs the additional weight. Some people are rather...
Jump to postThe landing distance for an A320 on a dry runway at MLW is around 1100m. This is the "unfactored" distance, i.e. what highly experienced test pilots achieved by landing at the exactly correct spot and speed, quite firmly (thereby reducing the energy to be taken by the brakes) and by starti...
Jump to postIn most jet the yaw damper would be on whenever it is not failed. On the A320, the Yaw Damper function is integrated into/is a function of the Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC), therefore it is "always" on whenever it or the FAC is not failed. As both FACs are able to provide the yaw damp...
Jump to postOne thing to consider as well are bird strikes. Even though most birdstrikes occur very close to the ground (below around 1000/1500ft) there is still a risk of encountering birds below FL100. Obviously, hitting a big bird at high speed is no fun and can cause considerable damage to the aircraft, so ...
Jump to postAY wet leased a couple of A350s to Eurowings Discover, probably you have seen one of these aircraft.
Jump to postThe proponents of the ‘feet up on the pedals’ during take off will say they are better positioned for brake application at low speeds (below 80 knots) where AB will not trigger, especially in their ability to keep straight with an engine failure in this regime However this is not an issue as long a...
Jump to post1. The AF/KL decision to divert to PTY will most likely have been taken by the Flight Control Centres in AMS/CDG and not by the pilots. Just to elaborate on that, the decision would have been the pilots, the pilot in Command/Captain is the person who is ultimately responsible when the aircraft is i...
Jump to postThe managed speed that you mentioned seems to be rather on the high side. Usually the managed descend speed is around 270kts, unless flying at a very high CI. Normal cost indexes nowadays are quite low (depending on the variant and airline around 10-20, if the aircraft is in metric system, CI for ai...
Jump to postI was just flying to my holidays from FRA to PUJ as a passenger yesterday, around 10 hours before the occurrence. The first 7 hours of the flight were mostly smooth with some occasional light chops once in a while. After around 7 hours the turbulence changed to continuous light in a cloud layer at F...
Jump to postIt's surprising that modern planes do not have alertness detection systems (or, for that matter, consciousness detection systems) when even cars have them (e.g., counting eye blinks as a fatigue indicator). I'd say that pilot consciousness should be easily detectable. From then on, a pre programmed...
Jump to postThe unfactored distance includes as far as I know also a firm touchdown which will also take quite some energy (more than one would think). Recently I did a bit of a firm touchdown (around 1.4 or 1.5g when I checked it later on) at my home base and at the point where we usually have around 70kts we ...
Jump to postAbsolutely! ATC very much exists to be a service to pilots, and that's always my approach to it. It's interesting that you say that about the EMB/ERJ weather radar.. Sometimes I'll have areas of depicted precip with very predictable deviations, but then I'll get one or two that will be off charting...
Jump to postActually, rushing to retract the flaps generally causes more problems that forgetting them. In a scenario similar to the one mentioned by Woodreau, when going around from close to the ground (balked landing, from below 50ft or so) it is important not to retract the flaps immediately because initiall...
Jump to postI frankly would not be surprised to see that being the reason why a lot of A320CEOs reach their retirement - its not going to be due to parts, it will likely be at the point where the airframe itself it uneconomical to repair corrision / fatigue issues. Why that frame in particular? The A32X family...
Jump to postSo, from a pilot perspective: Are landing lights designed to help others see an approaching aircraft better or to see ahead once on the ground (I can't imagine they help illuminate much in the sky). Both. Landing lights are visible from quite far away at night, but obviously that's not a factor in ...
Jump to postThese things are happening from time to time, systems are quite sensitive to avoid any asymmetric/uncommanded deployment which could be worse than landing with no flap. Happened to me a couple of years ago (on an A320) on a shortish runway (2300m) but we were very light. We run the numbers and it tu...
Jump to postIt is so anachronistic, that such vital communication between ATC and the flight crew is done by voice radio. That is 1950s technology and bears so much risk. I'm a trained military radio operator and I know, how defective this means of communcation is. The manufacturers of this outdated radio equi...
Jump to postOne thing that is quite strange is the way the go around was initiated. It’s not against any procedure to perform the go around manually, but most pilots would keep the autopilot on or reengage it to lower the workload. Usually the first action to initiate a go around would be to set the thrust leve...
Jump to postNot sure about the Boeing FMCS but on the Airbus FMGC resets are quite common. Most of the time it’s an automatic reset and the system recovers by itself after a few seconds. Sometimes a manual reset becomes necessary. Therefore I wouldn’t consider the FMC problem as a major issue. The wrong runway ...
Jump to postThe total start time of an A320NEO with PW1100 engines with dual cooling function is only marginally longer than the total start time of CEO aircraft with IAE engines. I don't think that this marginally longer start time is a major factor, except in extraordinary circumstances (i.e. out of the dual ...
Jump to postIm not an engineer, but ADs are quite common for all aircraft types. I don’t think this is a critical issue, a fix will be developed and rolled out on the fleet. Most of the safety risks addressed by ADs are quite unlikely, but the application of the AD is still necessary to maintain the high level...
Jump to postIm not an engineer, but ADs are quite common for all aircraft types. I don’t think this is a critical issue, a fix will be developed and rolled out on the fleet. Most of the safety risks addressed by ADs are quite unlikely, but the application of the AD is still necessary to maintain the high level ...
Jump to postIn Europe it is similar in most companies, pilots and cabin crew usually get paid a basic salary (which should cover boarding, postflight duties etc) and a pay per block hour (I.e. brake off to brake on). There are some variations to this some companies pay a big basic salary but no compensation for...
Jump to postIt’s to cool the brakes. I’ve seen Airbus narrow bodies do it also and they even cooling fans that are used in the ground. Brake fans are an option on the A330. I think the same on the A32x. I can confirm that. My company doesn’t have brake fans on A320/321s but still does short (35-40 minutes) tur...
Jump to postAirliners are usually certified for +2.5/-1gs (this number comes from a regulation as well but I’m too lazy to look up the exact reference now), not to +6. So the test has to be performed up to 2,5 x 1,5 (safety factor) = 3,75g. For obvious safety reasons this test is not performed inflight but on t...
Jump to postThere is a lot of difference between aircraft types, even though Boeing and Airbus are trying to keep the callouts similar within their products. Just for example during takeoff, on Airbus the speed check/call out is done at 100kts, on Boeing it's done at 80kts. The call after liftoff is "posit...
Jump to postI can't believe there exists so huge pile of rubles or any other currency in Russia that does not have 1000 times better and more urgent use for something else than buying a bunch of civilian planes even at a huge discount which actually will not be that huge discount as it still requires massive a...
Jump to postCan’t talk about the 737 but in the most difficult part is getting ETOPS approval as an operator. Manuals have to be amended, crews and other personal have to be trained and also some sort of operational demonstration (number of flights carried out according to ETOPS procedures) carried out. Modifyi...
Jump to postThe company I work for has some overflights of that region. I didn’t operate these routes yet personally, but our last simulator session had a LOFT scenario that - at least in my session - led to a diversion to Erbil. As the terrain in that region is quite high and possibly limiting for the depressu...
Jump to postNormal descend rates at normal speeds without speed brakes are around 2500 (high level) to around 1500/1800fpm (below around FL100), but for profile adjustments rates up to 6000/6500 are achievable in normal operations. Could be due to unexpected track shortening, last minute runway change etc.
Jump to postMost ferry flights in airline operations are done by regular crews (positioning the aircraft to an other base after a diversion/to/from maintenance). Sometimes they are also done by technical pilot/management pilots, depending on the nature of the flight (for example when taking a new plane from the...
Jump to postClassically, there are only two things: complete loss of thrust in at least one engine and actual fire. Do You really know any other? We practiced compressor stall at takeoff and on one sim we got a tire burst around V1. This was very tricky as we rarely ever practice this and initially it's very e...
Jump to postOn the A320 I would not reject in this scenario. A high speed RTO at more than 100kts can be hazardous due to the potential for an overrun and there are just very few defined failures that will lead to an RTO in this situation. Also, the human brain is not capable of noticing and processing a single...
Jump to postSlightly off topic but how much difference training is required between an A32X aircraft flown with the CFM International engines versus the IAE VS engines (assuming CEO A32X)? I don’t remember doing any difference training for CFM/IAE but maybe it was already included in the type rating. The diffe...
Jump to postYes, they are only variants, it's only CBT training. In my current company we have A320/321/CEO/NEO, so far I haven't flown the NEO yet but I did the CBT and I am therefore allowed to fly the NEO if it shows up on my roster. I heard the takeoff and landing are a bit different due to an updated rotat...
Jump to postIt’s really depending on the operator, destinations and kind of operation. I used to fly for an European company that did mostly holiday charter flights. If the weather and traffic situation was acceptable I often requested visual approaches (following the prescribed pattern) in the Canary Islands, ...
Jump to postVery interesting to read that some airlines are not certified to fly conventional NPAs. In my career so far I have been working for four different companies in Asia and Europe so far and conventional NPAs, even though mostly flown as RNAV overlays (and as CDFAs, I.e. without the level off at MDA), a...
Jump to postThere is actually a big note in the Airbus FCTM regarding the use of rudder. It emphasises that the rudder should only be used during takeoff/landing/crosswind landings (to Decrab) and engine failures and few rare failures, f.e. rudder trim runaway (to return the rudder to the centered position). Th...
Jump to postAs mentioned before, it's really depending on the aircraft type. On the A320 (and I think on most other large airplanes as well) flaps will definitely increase drag and could be used to slow down from a purely aerodynamic point of view. However flap wear increases by *a lot* when extending the flaps...
Jump to postI always thought that on Airbus FBW aircraft, you just command a roll or pitch rate with the sidestick (at least in normal law). But in that case (wrong CG) you wouldn't feel a difference when rotating, since the FBW would just command more elevator to achieve the pitch change/rotation. The devil i...
Jump to postCG's going to be a little north of where it should be, so your stab trim would be significantly off. Uncomfortable, sure, might be a bit sluggish on the rotation, but unless you're operating at the edge of the takeoff envelope it's not great but it's not going to kill you unless you're not paying a...
Jump to postWhile Airbus does not have automatic flaps it can do something similar during the approach: it can automatically reduce to maneuvering speed for the current flap setting (if the speed is in "managed" mode while the FMGC is in approach phase), so it's possible not to touch the speed knob du...
Jump to postOn the A320 APU can be started and run up to the service ceiling (39800ft or 39100ft, except for some ACJs). The generator can be used at altitude as well, it has the same rating as the engine generators. APU bleed usage is limited to around 20000 or 22000ft (depending on APU type) and APU bleed may...
Jump to post3 installed, 2 required. One can be put on MEL. But, as Starlionblue indicated, the aircraft are certified to stop without their use. Can the AC be dispatched with either #1 or #3 inop? How many airliners have thrust reverse on MEL for dispatch? Or does this vary by the conditions for a given fligh...
Jump to postwhich makes me wonder... is that in any way customizable between customer and Airbus? I.e. "our SOP is to land with Autobreak armed, can we can a warning for that?". Not just for autobreakes of course, but are warning conditions OEM only decisions or can Airlines tailor those? best regard...
Jump to postThere are different kinds of bidding systems in place in European airline. I mostly flew for smaller companies, there was no real bidding system (in one ACMI company you could try to ask the company to assign you a specific base for a couple of months, but no specific flights). The "bigger"...
Jump to postOn the aircraft side, it is not a big change. I'm not an engineer, but it may even be possible to change the aircraft from kg to lbs (or vice versa) without any hardware change. Paperwork may be more of an issue. In one of my previous companies most of the fleet was using the metric system, however ...
Jump to postThe strobe light switch has three settings: OFF, AUTO and ON. On and Off are self-explanatory, Auto will activate the strobes at lift off. Airbus SOP is to turn on the strobe lights when entering the runway, during ground operations they are left in Auto. Probably the Frontier crew forgot to turn th...
Jump to post