A330 and Honest Fiction

As I edit Flight For Safety, I am reminded how much we can learn from honest fiction. Honest Fiction? Sounds like an oxymoron. But there is more truth that you know, and we can learn from it. 

Long-term memories are made when emotion is involved. When we see the action verses hearing or seeing the words, we remember. I am willing to bet that all of you can remember a highly emotional situation, no matter what it was, that you were involved in.  Imagine if you could read a a fun story and learn something that will stay with you forever. Perhaps save your life, and those of your passengers. My goal is to take you into the story so you feel the emotion.

 

For those of you who know me, I have spent 22 years instructing on many different Boeing aircraft. Now I am on the Airbus A330, and I'm writing fiction. What do you think is going to happen in Flight For Safey? You just can't take the teacher out of the pilot once it has been ingrained. 

I am taking you into the flight deck of another world and you will learn many things the easy and fun way. After much research and a huge thanks to the assistance of my technical editor, Bill Palmer (the pilot who wrote the systems manuals and help to put the A330 into service at Northwest Airlines),  every detail will be accurate. The story will take you to the next level of understanding, and a greater level of fear.

Not a pilot? Who cares. Flight For Control pulled everyone into the story for one heck of a ride. With powerful characters, strong women, an important message, and a little sex... what's not to love? 

Teaser Alert~ 

Rain streamed up the windshield. Darby had never seen such a thing. The outside air temperature was -50C and the total air temperature was -21C. Was it possible to get liquid water at these temps?

            “Beep. Beep. Beep. Ding. Ding. Ding.” The master warning and master caution lights flashed, and the airplane cried warning. The autopilot and autothrust had both disconnected.

            Their airspeed indicators rolled back to 65 knots. The flight directors disappeared. A roar like machine gun fire attacking the plane, vibrated in the flight deck. Messages displayed rapidly across the ECAM—Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor, and were being replaced by others faster than she could see what they were.

             “Jesus fucking Christ!” Keith yelled. One hand grabbed for the thrust and his other grabbed the stick. 

            “Don’t do anything!” Darby yelled over the noise. “Let the plane fly.”        

            “Stall! Stall! Stall!” The plane cried.

          “We’re not stalling,” Darby yelled. “Look at our ground speed," She said pressing the data button on the MCDU and then selecting GPS data. “Here ya go…We’ve got a ground speed of 486 knots.” 

            “Ding.” The plane warned them that the autothrust was disconnected, and would continue to scream every five seconds until they acknowledged it. But if they left the thrust levers alone the power would remain in the last setting. If it were good enough before, it was good enough now—and one less thing to worry about.

            Darby looked back at her PFD. Their pitch was supposed to be at 3 degrees for level flight. 
They were at 10 degrees and increasing! What the hell?

            “Stop climbing,” Darby yelled. The A330 could pitch up to 10 to 12 degrees very rapidly 
without much effort. 

            “What?” 

            “Don’t climb. Bring the pitch down to three degrees.”

            “Ding.”

            “But I let go of the stick.” Keith yelled. “It shouldn’t be climbing.”

            “It's going where you told it to go,” Darby shouted, as she pushed the stick forward. “We have to put it on 3 degree line.” 

            “DUAL INPUT!” a synthetic voice blared over the speakers. Keith was back on the controls—they were both flying the plane. She focused on the goal of level flight, and her hand hovered over the stick.  Once stable, she removed it, but kept a watchful eye on the pitch attitude. 

            “Ding.” 

             Unlike the Boeing, the A330 trimmed to relieve elevator pressure for whatever pitch attitude the pilot wanted without the pilot's help. When Keith had let go of the stick, the stick had moved to neutral but the nose stayed pointed up because he had put it there. 

            "Ding." 

            This was the first plane Darby had flown that the pilots did not trim. It took an effort to pull a Boeing into a stall with cruise power and not touching the trim. Not the Airbus, because it trimmed itself. The A330 was smart. But not smart enough to out think a pilot who screwed up when the plane was in Alternate Law. 

             “Shit. What the hell is this?” Keith said, breathing rapidly. Almost hyperventilating.

            “Ding.” 

            “You’re in Alternate law. Just fly what you’ve got.” But he had a death grip on the stick and worked it hard. “Just little pressures to keep her level. You’re not whacking off, just flying a plane.” 

            “Ding.”

            “What about our power? I…I think the autothrust is off.” The plane bounced and rocked.

            “Ding.”

            “Don’t rock the wings, you’re inducing instability,” she said. “Your autothrust is off. Don’t worry.” 

Today I'm in Atlanta doing a recency. Tomorrow we'll talk about Positive Dynamic Stability and answer the questions below.

Test your A330 (and story) knowledge:

1. Why did they get a stall warning if they weren't stalling?
2. Why did the plane stay pointed up if Keith put the controls back to Neutral?
3. Why is it easier to stall an Airbus while in Alternate Law, than a Boeing?
4. Why is it easier to stall a Boeing than a Airbus in Normal Law? 
5. Why did Darby say put the plane on the 3 degree line?
6. What was that ding, and how can they make it stop?
7. Why didn't Keith have to worry about the autothrust being off?
8. Is Darby a Captain or First Officer?

Enjoy the Journey!  Remember to get your copy of Flight For Control so you'll be ready for the continuation of the drama...

Please take a moment to LIKE my Facebook page and see what is in store for 2025! 
  

XO Karlene 
  

NOTE: Bill Palmer: A330 Check Airman who wrote the systems manuals for the A330. He has a book coming soon that you won't want to miss. Until then follow him on Facebook: And Twitter @WFPalmer  Whenever I have a technical question... he's my go to guy, and yours too.   

Difference between Boeing and Airbus FMS

The Reasons I'm in Cyprus: 

Kayla and Ellis

Miles

The Bones being researched

The Reason I'm Posting Training Blogs:

 Answers to yesterday’s quiz.

• What is the major difference between the FMS phases of flight?  The major difference between the FMS phases of flight is the target speed (magenta bug) in that flight phase.

• How can you tell which is the active flight phase? The target speed is the primary indicator, but the active flight phase is also printed in green at the top of the PROG and PERF pages on the MCDU.

• When the approach is activated, what is the target speed? When the approach phase is active the target speed is VAPP The magenta bug. 

• If the target speed is Green Dot, what is the active phase of flight? The target speed in the go-around phase is Green Dot. (Unless you are holding, have a speed constraint, or speed limit.)

• How do you shift to the climb phase, from a go-around? Three ways:  Change the destination and enter a new cruise altitude.  Activate the approach and enter a new cruise altitude.  Or activate the alternate.

How well did you do on the quiz?

Both Airbus and Boeing use flight phase changes as a means of managing the speed profile as the flight progresses. The takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, approach, and go-around flight phases each have a unique speed profile. Each FMS changes the flight phases to reflect the desired speed profile for that portion of the flight.

A primary difference between Boeing and Airbus airplanes is the automatic target speed selection, and how it is handled by the FMS.

The greatest differences occur in the approach phase. Many Boeing models rely primarily on pilot selection with the speed window. The Airbus allows the FMS to manage the target speed all the way to touchdown. But like Boeing, Airbus also enables the pilot to manually select the speed at any time.
This design allows normal deceleration with flap extension that requires no manual speed selection. It also enables automatic selection of approach speeds with wind additives due to the groundspeed-mini function, protecting against decreasing headwind windshear on final approach.

Now you know the difference… tomorrow we will fly the Airbus A330 Fully managed.

Enjoy the Journey!
XO Karlene

Flight To Safety first draft: 93,523 Words

Understanding Airbus Flight Phases Day 1.

Update... we made it to Cyprus...

An A320 flight on Cyprus Airway from AMS to LCA. Coming up... everything you wanted to know about the phases of flight on the A330... and the 320 I supposed.

Unstable approaches and flap overspeeds have occurred worldwide in the A320 and A330 aircraft. All resulting from misunderstanding the operation and use of managed speed in Airbus airplanes. Serious consequences have occurred. So while I'm on my journey in Cyprus, I will be sharing the intricacies of the A330 Flight Phases.

First thing to remember is activating the approach is a memory item, and normally not on any checklist. Why wouldn't something so important be on a checklist?

Airbus and other US operators of A320/330 aircraft do not have it on their checklists because there isn’t anywhere to put it. Descent checklist is too early. Approach checklist is too early if you use the Deceleration Point to auto-activate the Approach phase, or if you fly the plane per design by remaining in the Descent phase until a speed reduction is desired. Placing it on a checklist that is done before the activation leaves “To-go” items, creating the unintended consequence of an uncompleted approach checklist. The Landing checklist is too late.


Before we can understand the impact of activating the approach, it’s important to know the flight phases. Take the following quiz to test your knowledge, and tomorrow I’ll share the answers. Along with a better understanding of the speed system.

1. What is the major difference between the FMS phases of flight?
2. How can you tell which is the active flight phase?
3. When the approach is activated, what is the target speed?
4. If the target speed is Green Dot, what is the active phase of flight?
5. How do you shift to the climb phase, from a go-around?

Thanks to the information sent by an A330 Check Airman Bill Palmer, in pursuit of helping to eliminate unstable approaches, I've been privy to share this information with you. I've taken a not so creative license to edit the information for Flight To Success and in hopefully six lessons, you too will know more than the average Airbus pilot.

Live From Cyprus... Enjoy the Journey!

XO Karlene

Flight For Safety update:
92,334 words... six chapters remaining for the first draft