Oral Exam Guide Flashcards
How should a pilot call a mechanic outside the aircraft?
Press and hold the MECH button. It illuminates a blue light on the EXT PWR PANEL and sounds an external horn.
How should a pilot call the forward flight attendant?
Press the FWD button
What happens when a pilot presses the EMER pushbutton?
Pink light flashes at all area Call Panels
EMERGENCY CALL appears on all attendant indication panels
High-low chime (repeated 3 times) sounds throughout the cabin loud speakers
What happens when the Flight Attendants initiate an emergency call?
The white EMER ON light and amber CALL lights flash
The amber ATT lights flash on the ACPs
3 long buzzers sound in the cockpit
System resets when the attendant hangs up the relevant systems
What does the illumination of the SYS ON light mean? Does this mean that all the masks have deployed?
The signal has been sent to release the oxygen mask doors, but some masks may have to be deployed manually
What causes automatic deployment of the masks?
Cabin altitude reaching approximately 14,000 feet
How does the passenger oxygen system work?
Chemical oxygen generators for approximately 13 to15 minutes
What happens when a pilot pushes the CREW SUPPLY pushbutton?
Valve opens to supply low pressure oxygen to the crew
Why is the GND CTL pushbutton selected to ON during preflight?
To record preflight activities in the cockpit
If the pushbutton was not selected ON, how would the system work in automatic mode?
ON for 5 minutes after electrical power is supplied to the aircraft
At least one engine is operating, stops 5 min after last engine shut down
What allows the cabin PA’s to be recorded?
ACP 3 PA volume knob out and in the 3 o’clock position
What does pressing the SYS pushbutton do?
All basic GPWS alerts (mode1 to 5) are inhibited
What does an amber FAULT light in the SYS pushbutton indicate on the GPWS panel?
Any failure of GPWS mode 1 through 5
What effect, if any, does an amber FAULT light in the SYS pushbutton have on the TERRAIN mode?
No effect at all
Describe a situation when a pilot might press LDG FLAP 3
To avoid nuisance warning in case of landing in CONF 3
In this case, LDG MEMO displays FLAPS…CONF 3 instead of CONF FULL
Describe a situation when a pilot might press the FLAP MODE pushbutton.
To avoid nuisance warning in case of landing with flaps setting reduced
FLAP SYS 1 (2) FAULT would require selection of FLAP MODE off
What effect, if any, does the failure of TERR mode have on basic GPWS?
No effect whatsoever
What is the significance of the red FAULT illuminating on the RAT & EMER GEN light?
AC BUS1 and AC BUS 2 are lost and the RAT is not supplying electrical power
When would the red FAULT light on the RAT & EMER GEN light normally illuminate?
The fault light will illuminate once the RAT is deployed and electrical power is not being supplied (approximately eight seconds)
How can the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) be deployed?
Manually by pushing MAN ON (EMER ELEC PWR panel) or RAT MAN ON (HYDRAULIC panel).
Automatically by the loss of both AC BUS 1 and AC BUS 2
What is the difference between automatic RAT deployment and manual RAT deployment when the RAT MAN ON pushbutton is pressed on the HYD panel?
RAT MAN ON supplies Blue Hydraulic PSI only, no electrical generation
After deploying the RAT by pressing the RAT MAN ON pushbutton on the HYD panel it becomes necessary to also extract electrical power. How can this be accomplished?
By pressing the MAN ON pushbutton on the EMER ELEC PWR
What does the RAT supply?
Blue Hydraulic system and the emergency electrical generator
What buses are powered by the emergency electrical generator?
AC ESS and AC ESS Shed
DC ESS and DC ESS shed
What would cause the GEN 1 LINE SMOKE light to illuminate?
Smoke detected in the avionics ventilation ducting
Aside from the GEN 1 LINE SMOKE light, what would be other indications of avionics smoke?
ECAM warning
Amber FAULT lights in the EXTRACT and BLOWER pushbuttons on the
VENTILATION panel
If the Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitoring (ECAM) system directs a pilot to select GEN 1 LINE pushbutton to OFF, what will occur?
Gen 1 line contactor opens (white OFF light illuminates)
AC BUS 1 powered by GEN 2 through the Bus Tie Contactor
Gen 1 powers one fuel pump directly in each wing tank
What is checked on the EVAC panel during the preliminary cockpit preparation?
CAPT & PURS switch in CAPT position
What type of flight control system does the A320 family aircraft utilize?
Fly-By-Wire system
Describe how the flight controls are controlled and activated.
Electrically controlled and hydraulically activated
How is NORMAL LAW indicated on the Primary Flight Display (PFD)?
Green “=” for pitch, bank, and over speed limits Amber/Black (ALPHA PROT) airspeed tape
How is ALTERNATE LAW indicated on the Primary Flight Display (PFD)?
Amber X’s (indicating lack of NORMAL LAW protections)
How is DIRECT LAW indicated on the Primary Flight Display (PFD)?
Amber “USE MANUAL PITCH TRIM”
Amber X’s (indicating lack of NORMAL LAW protections)
How is MECHANICAL BACKUP indicated on the Primary Flight Display (PFD)?
Red “MAN PITCH TRIM ONLY”
Amber X’s (indicating lack of NORMAL LAW protections)
When operating in NORMAL LAW in “flight” mode, what does the side stick command for pitch and roll?
Pitch – G load
What is the significance of the Side Stick Priority (Red Arrow) Light?
The other pilot has gained side stick authority
Name the Flight Control Computers and the number of each.
ELAC – Elevator Aileron Computer (2)
SEC – Spoiler Elevator Computer (3)
FAC – Flight Augmentation Computer (2)
What are the some of the Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC) functions?
Normal elevator
Normal aileron
Normal pitch and roll
Alternate pitch
Direct pitch and roll
Abnormal attitude
Aileron droop
Autopilot orders
What are some of the Spoiler Elevator Computer (SEC) functions?
Normal roll
Direct roll
Direct pitch
Alternate pitch
Abnormal attitude
Speed brakes
What does SEC 3 control?
Spoiler Control – one flight spoiler and one ground spoiler on each wing
What are some of the Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC) functions?
Rudder Trim
Rudder travel limit
Yaw control
Protection for Vertical Flight Envelope Protection for Windshear
Protection for Low Energy Warning Protection for Alpha Floor
PFD speed scale
What should happen to the Trimmable Horizontal Stabilizer (THS) after landing?
Reset to zero
Describe some of protections a pilot will have in NORMAL LAW.
High Speed
High Angle-of-Attack (AOA Alpha Protection)
Load Factor Limitation (+2.5G / -1.0G)
Pitch Attitude (30° UP/15° DN)
Bank Angle (67°)
Describe high-speed protection.
If VMO/MMO plus a predetermined factor is exceeded, the system induces a pitch-up input to limit aircraft speed
What, if anything, can a pilot do to override high-speed protection pitch up?
It is not possible to override a protection while still in NORMAL LAW
The aircraft would need to be forced into ALTERNATE LAW (by turning 2 Air Data
Reference’s (ADR’s) off, for example)
What is ALPHA MAX?
The maximum angle-of-attack allowed in NORMAL LAW, indicated by the top of the red strip on the airspeed scale.
How does high angle-of-attack Protection operate?
When the angle-of-attack exceeds ALPHA PROT, pitch trim ceases and angle- of-attack is now proportional to side stick deflection, not to exceed ALPHA MAX even with full aft side stick deflection
What protections, if any, does a pilot have in ALTERNATE LAW?
Load Factor
High-speed stability
Low speed stability
What protections, if any, does a pilot have in DIRECT LAW?
None
When, if at all, does flare mode activate in ALTERNATE LAW? Describe the whole process.
There is no flare mode if operating in ALTERNATE LAW. The aircraft proceeds directly from ALTERNATE LAW to DIRECT LAW when the gear is selected down, and flare mode will not be available.
If in ALTERNATE LAW, when will the aircraft revert to DIRECT LAW?
If the controls degrade to ALTERNATE LAW for any reason other than recovery from abnormal attitude, DIRECT LAW automatically becomes active with gear extension and autopilots not engaged. In this case, full use of autopilot is recommended until they must be disconnected.
When is there a direct relationship between side stick and flight control surface deflection?
When in DIRECT LAW
When below 100 feet
It’s common Airbus philosophy that the Airbus cannot stall in NORMAL LAW. However, there are conditions in which it can. Describe how this can happen.
Faulty Radio Altimeter
A good pilot will operate under the philosophy that anything can happen. Preventative systems such as (ALPHA PROT, ALPHA MAX, etc.) could interpret bad data as valid data and subsequently fail to recognize the actual angle-of-attack or flight path of the airplane. Therefore, it is hard to point to exact scenarios when the Airbus can stall in NORMAL LAW. We need to understand anything is possible and we should recognize stall indications and recover regardless of the active control law.
After recovery from an unusual attitude, what control law would the aircraft likely be in?
ABNORMAL ATTITUDE LAW
How would the aircraft enter ABNORMAL ATTITUDE LAW?
By exceeding approximately double the NORMAL LAW limits.
What is the purpose of ABNORMAL ATTITUDE LAW?
Allows the aircraft to be recovered from an unusual attitude
If the flight crew is flying at 300 knots and they happen to pull full back on the side stick, how high can they pitch up?
30°up
If the flight crew selected 100 knots on the speed knob, how slow would the aircraft fly?
VLS
Describe what would happen if the flight crew slowly pulled the thrust levers to idle.
As airspeed decays, the Trimmable Horizontal Stabilizer (THS) adjusts the pitch attitude to maintain altitude.
If the angle-of-attack increases to a threshold value, known as ALPHA PROT, the pitch function of the side stick changes. Stick movement commands a specific angle-of-attack instead of a G load change.
Since auto trimming is inoperative, the pilot must hold continuous back pressure in order to fly slower than the speed for ALPHA PROT.
The side stick no longer provides a “G demand.” Instead, the pilot is requesting a specific angle-of-attack with the side stick.
Continuing the preceding scenario, describe what would happen if the flight crew continued to pull back on the side stick. How slow would the aircraft go?
The speed corresponding to ALPHA MAX
With the stick full aft the elevators will adjust the pitch attitude to maintain a maximum
safe angle-of-attack (ALPHA MAX).
This maximum angle-of-attack, induced by the pilot, is slightly lower than the stall angle-
of-attack; therefore, the aircraft theoretically cannot be stalled in NORMAL LAW.
At some point during this demonstration the AUTOTHRUST automatically applies TOGA power. What is this protection, and how does it work?
ALPHA FLOOR is a function of AUTOTHRUST. It will activate at any airspeed based on angle-of-attack and automatically apply TOGA thrust regardless of thrust lever position.
ALPHA FLOOR is available if the AUTOTHRUST is functional (it does not need to be active), an engine is running (not both), and the aircraft is in NORMAL LAW.
Angle-of-attack protection does not depend on ALPHA FLOOR to function.
Describe what would happen if a flight crew attempted to overstress the aircraft while in NORMAL LAW.
Maneuver protection prevents a pilot from over stressing the aircraft by limiting flight control inputs.
If G loads become greater than normal, they are displayed in amber on the lower ECAM above the digital clock.
When the side stick is pushed forward, less than 1G is commanded. A given pitch input always results in the same pitch response regardless of airspeed.
When the stick is returned to neutral, the new pitch is held constant regardless of airspeed changes.
What will happen if the pilot over speeds the aircraft? Are there any protections that are available to the flight crew?
An over speed causes the flight control computers to provide a nose up input to reduce aircraft damage due to excess speed.
This protection limits the maximum airspeed by increasing the pitch attitude even if full forward stick is held.
The speed at which this protection activates is shown on the airspeed indicator as a green “=” sign.
An over speed warning is generated as VMO is exceeded (specifically at VMO+4). This warning can only be silenced by the EMER CANCEL pushbutton.
If the stick is released, the speed will return to VMO/MMO. The protection will allow a momentary increase in airspeed to permit any necessary maneuvering but then the speed will again slow to the limit.
If high-speed protection is active, bank angle is limited to 45°. Bank angle is also limited to 45° if angle-of-attack protection is active, in either case the limit marks do not move.
If high-speed protection is active, positive spiral stability occurs at all bank angles, and control pressure is required to hold any bank angle greater than zero.
It is possible to over speed the aircraft. The computers merely limit the maximum attainable speed.
When a pilot rolls into a bank what is provided by the Flight Control Laws?
In “flight” mode of NORMAL LAW roll control is a roll rate demand. Side stick inputs commands the ailerons, spoilers 2-5, and the rudder to achieve the commanded roll rate with bank angle protection, turn coordination, and Dutch roll damping.
The roll rate demanded by the pilot is proportional to side stick deflection. When the side stick is neutral, the ailerons and spoilers are positioned to maintain the roll rate at 0° per second. This results in a constant bank angle.
When the side stick is displaced laterally, increasing roll rates are commanded. At full deflection, a roll rate of 15° per second is commanded in NORMAL LAW. The ailerons and spoilers are positioned as necessary to achieve the commanded roll rate.
The side stick position cannot be used as a reference to determine the actual positions of flight control surfaces.
In normal turns (up to 33°) pitch trim is automatic and assists the pilot in maintaining altitude (pitch inputs may still be needed to maintain altitude).
If the bank is increased beyond 33° and the side stick is released, the aircraft would return to 33° of bank. This is known as positive spiral stability.
Positive spiral stability is a characteristic programmed into the flight control computers, which returns the aircraft to a more stable condition (0° if high speed or angle-of-attack protection is active).
Beyond 33°of bank, positive spiral stability is active and automatic pitch trim is inhibited. To maintain a bank angle greater than 33°, continuous side stick pressure must be used. Also, continuous back pressure will be needed to maintain altitude since automatic pitch trim is inhibited.
What is the ADIRS?
Air Data and Inertial Reference System
What are some of the parameters that the Air Data Reference System provides?
Barometric altitude, airspeed, over speed warnings, temperature, angle-of-attack, Mach
What are some of the parameters the IR provides?
Attitude, Flight Path Vector (FPV), track, heading, acceleration, angular rates, groundspeed and aircraft position
If there was an IR1/ADR1 FAULT, what should be done with the switching panel to display backup data appropriately?
ATT/HDG to CAPT 3
If the AIR DATA portion of the #1 ADIRU failed, what should be done with the switching panel to display backup data appropriately?
Air Data to CAPT 3
