Technical Interview 9 Flashcards
What are the components that make up a fuel plan for a minimum-fuel trip?
Minimum fuel required is taxi, trip and reserve fuel, which is divided into contingency, alternate and final reserve.
Additional and extra are not always required.
What is an orographic cloud?
Its a cloud which forms when air is forced to rise by high ground.
As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds.
If you where picking up 10.000 litres of fuel in Newfoundland (cold weather), and 10.000 litres of fuel in Lima, Peru (hot weather), where would you have picked up the most fuel?
In Newfoundland, cold weather means the volume of fuel gets less, therefore the density per litre goes up.
With 10 minutes to go to the destination, you’re being advised by ATC that you will have to hold.
What 3 things should you consider immediately?
Fuel, speed and holding entry.
What can you tell about occluded fronts?
Occluded fronts are created when the cold and warm fronts merge.
If the cold front goes over the warm front, a warm occlusion is created. If, however, the cold front undercuts the warm front, a cold occlusion is created.
Weather is usually bad, a mixture of clouds can occur like Cb embedded in Ns.
What is Point of No Return (PNR)?
The point during a flight at which an aircraft is no longer capable of returning to the airfield from which it took off due to fuel considerations.
Beyond this point the aircraft must proceed to some other destination.
The point of safe return (PSR) is the farthest point along a route from departure to destination aerodrome from which an aircraft will be able to return to its departure airport with its fuel reserves (alternate and final reserve fuel) intact.
What pressure does a pitot tube measure?
Total pressure (static and dynamic pressure).
Regarding point of equal time and point of no return, do you think Ryanair pilots should be concerned about these?
Yes, especially since Ryanair is a low cost airline and every extra kg on board means more weight, which means more fuel is required which costs money.
What is the Critical Point?
Also called Point of Equal Time, is a position on the planned track from which it takes the same time to fly to the destination as it would to return to the departure point.
What sort of weather would you find at an occluded front?
Weather is usually bad, a mixture of clouds can occur like Cb embedded in Ns.
Name the different aircraft categories, speeds and on which speed these categories are based.
Approach category speeds are based on VAT - the indicated airspeed (IAS) over the threshold, which is the higher of the following 2 IASs:
- 1.3 x VSO - the stalling speed in the landing configuration at maximum landing mass; and
- 1.23 x VS1G - the stalling speed with gear down but no flap at maximum landing mass.
A <91
B 91-120
C 121-140
D 141-165
E 166 - 210
Approach category speeds are defined by which formula?
Approach category speeds are based on VAT - the indicated airspeed (IAS) over the threshold, which is the higher of the following 2 IASs:
- 1.3 x VSO - the stalling speed in the landing configuration at maximum landing mass; and
- 1.23 x VS1G - the stalling speed with gear down but no flap at maximum landing mass.
Can you explain what a coastal breeze is?
SEA breeze is a surface wind blowing from sea to the land. It occurs as a result of rapid land surface heating during afternoons, especially during summer months with clear skies and anti-cyclonic conditions (HIGH pressure predominating).
LAND breeze is a surface wind blowing from land to the sea. It occurs during the night when the land surface cools down more rapidly than the sea surface => sea surface becomes warmer than land surface => pressure gradient is created => wind starts blowing.
Why do you need contingency fuel?
Contingency Fuel is carried to compensate for deviations:
- From the expected fuel consumption data.
- From the forecast meteorological conditions.
- From the planned routing and/or cruising levels/altitudes.
Contingency Fuel is the higher of A and B below:
- 5% of the planned trip fuel, which may be reduced to 3% provided that an en-route alternate is available; or
- An amount to fly for 5 minutes at holding speed at 1500 feet (450 m) above the destination aerodrome in standard conditions.
Why are airplanes wary of windshear?
Airplanes can get uncontrollable during windshear.