Cruise

Question 1

To what tolerance does the autothrottle work when in ‘soft’ mode in the cruise?

Answer 1

The A/THR soft mode allows slight speed/Mach variation around the cruise speed/Mach (i.e. +/- 4 kt to 6 kt) while reducing the thrust variations.

Question 2

When would the flight crew update the winds and temperatures at waypoints?

Answer 2

The flight crew should update the wind and temperatures at waypoints when there is a difference of:

Either 30 ° in direction, or 30 kt in velocity for the wind

5 °C for temperature deviation.

They should make those entries for four different FLs in order to reflect the actual wind and temperature profile. This ensures that the FMS fuel and time predictions are as accurate as possible, and that the FMS provides an accurate OPT FL computation.

Question 3

How are FMC predictions handled when selected speed is used in the cruise?

Answer 3

The FMS updates the predictions accordingly until the aircraft reaches either the next step climb or the top of descent, where the managed speed/Mach applies again.

Question 4

What is the minimum recommended speed in the cruise?

Answer 4

Green dot

Question 5

How does an increase in OAT affect the max. available thrust?

Answer 5

The maximum available thrust decreases when there is an increase in OAT.

Question 6

What is the relationship between thrust margin and FMS Max flight level?

Answer 6

The nearer the aircraft is to REC MAX FL, the smaller the thrust margin.

Question 7

What is the relationship between green dot and thrust?

Answer 7

The GDOT speed uses the lowest quantity of thrust necessary to maintain the required/desired altitude.

When the aircraft speed is below GDOT speed, any decrease in speed requires an increase in thrust in order to maintain the required/desired altitude

Question 8

What actions does PF carry out at top-of-climb?

Answer 8

• Check ALT CRZ on the FMA
• Check ECAM for memos and SD pages.

Question 9

Below the tropopause, what descent is required to get a total air temperature (TAT) increase of 7°C?

Answer 9

Below the tropopause, a 4 000 ft descent increases the TAT by 7 °C.

Question 10

By how much does an increase in mach of 0.01 increase the TAT?

Answer 10

Each 0.01M gives an increase of 0.7 °C.

Question 11

What is the procedure for PF when overflying a manually entered waypoint?

Answer 11

• Check the track and distance to the next waypoint
• Check the wind and update it if the current wind is significantly different.

Question 12

What is the procedure for PF when overflying a waypoint or every 30 minutes?

Answer 12

• Check the fuel: Check the FOB on the permanent data, and the fuel predictions in the FMS ACTIVE/FUEL & LOAD page, and compare them with the CIRRUS flight plan.
• Check that there is no fuel leak.
• Check/compare the DEST EFOB on the F-PLN page with the MIN FUEL AT DEST available on the FUEL & LOAD FMS page.

Question 13

What PF action ensures correct data is available for an accurate landing performance calculation?

Answer 13

SYNCHRO ECAM button - CLICK

Click on the SYNCHRO ECAM button in order to update the last ECAM alerts that occurred during the flight.

Question 14

How many in-flight landing calculations should be carried out?

Answer 14

If the weather conditions are expected to change at the landing airport, or in the event of significant precipitation, the flight crew should consider a second calculation of the in-flight landing distance with the worst possible runway conditions.

Question 15

What is the standard for using reverse on landing?

Answer 15

The selection of REV MAX is the standard practice for landing.

Question 16

When is it acceptable to use idle reverse for landing?

Answer 16

1. On dry runways.
2. On WET runways (runway surface condition GOOD), the flight crew may select REV IDLE, if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

A landing distance assessment has been made with the following parameters for the in-flight landing distance computation (i.e. the landing distance that does not include a safety margin of 1.15):

• MEDIUM TO POOR landing performance level
• No reverser credit.
• The result of this in-flight landing distance assessment is within the LDA.

Question 17

For arrivals with constraints above or at the current cruise level, what considerations must be taken into account when checking flight plan?

Answer 17

The FMS may have deleted the altitude constraints that are at or above the CRZ FL, or at or above any previous lower CRZ FL in the case of step climbs.

Question 18

For approach preparation, where does PF check the Transition Level in the FMS?

Answer 18

The TRANS field on the Descent panel of the FMS ACTIVE/PERF page.

Question 19

What wind value is inserted into the APPR panel of the ACTIVE/PERF page?

Answer 19

Insert the average wind given by the ATC or ATIS. Do not insert the gust values. During approach, the Ground Speed Mini function (managed speed mode), takes into account the instantaneous gust.

For example, if the wind is 15020G35KT, insert 150/20.

Question 20

How is the GA panel of the FMS ACTIVE/PERF page checked for approach preparation?

Answer 20

PF checks that the GA level off altitude is shown in the (EO ACCEL) field?

Question 21

What is the recommended landing configuration with a tailwind of more than 10 kts?

Answer 21

Flap full

Question 22

When a technical failure increases VAPP, how is the new VAPP derived and how does PF modify the aircraft data?

Answer 22

In the case of an in-flight failure that affects the landing performance and increases the VAPP, use the LDG PERF application for VAPP computation.

Insert the computed VAPP in the APPR panel of the FMS ACTIVE/PERF page

The flight crew can modify VAPP. The ground speed mini-function takes into account this new value.

Question 23

What is the tolerance for the LDA comparison when BTV is armed and the charted and computed values compared?

Answer 23

35 m (115 ft)

Question 24

How many RTAs can be active in the flight plan?

Answer 24

One

Question 25

How many waypoint lines are displayed on the F-PLAN page?

Answer 25

9 for the active.

8 for the secondary.

Question 26

What would this mean on the flight plan page?

Answer 26

A time constraint cannot be respected.

Question 27

What do large font magenta characters mean on the flight plan page?

Answer 27

Predictions are not available.

Question 28

Whenever possible, which flight level should be chosen?

Answer 28

Optimum (OPT FL)

Question 29

What are the steps for assessing the landing performance?

Answer 29

In order to assess the landing performance, the flight crew should follow the two main steps described below:

1. Identify the Braking Performance Level with the Runway Condition Assessment Matrix (RCAM) for RWY COND selection in the LDG PERF application
2. Calculate the Landing Performance using the LDG PERF application.

Question 30

What values are cross checked for the in-flight landing distance calculation check?

Answer 30

When SOPs request a crosscheck of landing performance data, the flight crew must verify all of the following values:

• Runway ident

This ensures that the runway used for the computation in the OIS and/or inserted in the FMS is the same

• Runway length
• FACTORED LD
• FLAPS
• VAPP

Question 31

If FMS information is unavailable, how can OPT FL information be obtained?

Answer 31

If a FMS failure occurs, the flight crew should refer to the CRZ module of the IN-FLT PERF application in order to determine the OPT FL.