Fuel monitoring on A320 Family aircraft
Since the first A320 entry into service, very few events have involved undetected fuel quantity issues. Yet, coming across a situation where engines shut down by lack of fuel is a situation no one wants to experience.
Control your speed… during climb
Second of a series of articles on the theme of speed control during a flight, which started in issue #18 of this magazine, we have just taken off and are now entering the climb phase. The main objective is to retract the slats/flaps at an adequate speed, while sustaining enough lift to accelerate and climb.
Wind shear: an invisible enemy to pilots?
Weather plays a significant role in aviation safety and is regularly cited as a contributing factor in accidents or major incidents. Wind shear in the form of microbursts particularly, can be a severe hazard to aircraft during take-off, approach and landing.
Understanding Weight and Balance
To “feel” the aircraft response through the flight controls as being “heavier or lighter” than anticipated at take-off can result from a weight & balance inaccuracy. In fact, when the CG is out of the operational limits, the safety consequences can be far more critical than just a strange feeling.
Landing on contaminated runways
Landing performance is a function of the exact landing runway conditions at the time of landing. A simple statement for a more complex reality. Indeed, knowing what exact contamination is or remains on the runway at a given point in time is often challenging.
Tidy cockpit for safe flight
One would not normally think of everyday life objects, apparently as inoffensive as a pen or a cup of coffee, as being a real threat to the safe operation of a commercial flight. Yet, leaving them unsecured or forgotten in a cockpit could rapidly turn them into real trouble makers…
Parts Departing from Aircraft (PDA)
PDAs may be considered by some people as noncritical, especially when the part is small. Yet whatever the size, they may represent a potential safety risk. Preventing them must be the single objective of the combined and coordinated effort of a number of actors.
Learning from the evidence
In September 2014, Airbus will inaugurate its new A350 pilots Type-Rating course. The drivers for this development were both the EBT (Evidence-Based Training) principles and an analysis of natural learning mechanisms.
Safe operations with composite aircraft
Composite materials are increasingly used in aircraft design. The A350 XWB is the most recent illustration of this trend. Yet if the benefits of composite materials are not in doubt for airlines, some questions still remain as to their potential effects on safety.
Control your speed… at take-off
One of the most critical decisions that every line pilot may potentially encounter during every take-off is to continue or abort the procedure; hence the essential need to properly monitor the airspeed during this phase.