A320 ENGINE-OUT DRIFT- DOWN TABLE

Airlines publish in-house instructions on how its aircraft are to be operated. These are known as Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

SOP are published in the form of detailed instructions listing point by point, the necessary pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight duties/activities or aircraft checks that each individual crew-member is required to carry-out. Every pilot or engineer and cabin staff is trained to operate accordingly.

For example, every normal and abnormal operations/emergency checklist indicates the sequence of required actions, calls and responses at any particular time and who does what. All required actions for the operation of an aircraft are provided as expanded checklists that detail exactly what is required and who by. Individual duties are similarly addressed in the Company’s Operations Manual. Ground Staff and aircrew are trained to operate to those commonality standards, which are developed by the airline for the safe operation of aeroplanes in its fleets. This provides a company-wide standard to be adopted by all. Conversion from one type of aircraft to another then becomes an exercise in learning the technicalities of the new aircraft type, whilst employing expected interpersonal and known operational procedures.

However, some airlines have different SOPs for different fleets.

20.1 DEFINITIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The flight deck crew is made up of the Captain, a First Officer and Flight Engineer or P3, when carried. Duties are assigned to each according to carefully thought-out procedures and in the light of gained experience. In this manner everyone knows what is expected from each individual and of others whilst on flight operations, so that mistakes and errors can be more readily ascertained and corrected, before the situation deteriorates and accidents/incidents occur.

The duties of each pilot are defined in greater detail in Part 2 (Legal aspects of command), at Section 3 - Piloting Terms:

A review of ICAO and JAA Source Material) where the various terms used to refer to the pilots are discussed in detail.

It is common practice for pilots to share the flying and to therefore swop duties when one is to be the Pilot Flying (PF) and the other then becomes the supporting Pilot-not-flying (PNF) on a specific sector. It is interesting to note that Boeing has changed the wording from PNF to PM (Pilot Monitoring) to underscore the concept that the role of the other pilot is one of actively monitoring and not passively just “not flying” when not handling the aircraft.

A320 ENGINE-OUT DRIFT- DOWN TABLE

(Set Maximum Continuous Thrust on live engine immediately)

Net Drift-down – Corrections

Engine Anti-ice ON Reduce table weights by 10,000 lbs.

Engine and Wing Anti-ice ON Reduce table weights by 18,000 lbs.

A/C Packs OFF Increase table weights by 5,000 lbs.

Net Drift-down – One-Engine Inoperative TERRAIN

ELEVATION (FEET)

MAX WEIGHT (Lbs) - A/C Packs On ISA & BELOW ISA + 10°C ISA + 20°C

15,000 167,900 167,400 154,600

14,000 175,200 174,700 161,400

13,000 180,700 180,200 166,400

12,000 186,100 185,500 171,100

11,000 191,200 190,600 175,700

10,000 195,900 195,300 180,300

9,000 200,200 199,500 184,700

8,000 204,800 204,200 189,200

7,000 205,000 205,000 193,700

Reduce to Vref+100 knots or FMC IAS then fly QRH Target IAS to stabilising altitude and complete cruise in SE/LRC

20.1.1 Crew duties

Using the term Pilot Monitoring defines more clearly the co-pilot’s role, when he is not handling the controls but acts in support of the Captain whenever the latter is the Pilot flying (PF). All ‘Phase of flight duties’ are then divided between the captain Pilot Flying (PF) and the first officer who is the Pilot Monitoring (PM).

Generally, each crewmember is responsible for moving the controls and switches in their given area of responsibility.

‘Area of Responsibility’ illustrations and expanded instructions in Operations Manual instructions show the defined individual responsibilities, for both normal and non-normal procedures. Typical panel locations are shown and crew duties described in detail. Clearly, The Captain who is in overall command, may direct actions outside of the other crew-members’ areas of pre-assigned responsibilities

SOPs will establish the general PF phase of flight responsibilities which are:

• taxiing

• flight path and airspeed control..

• airplane configuration

• navigation

• overall command and decision making

In addition, the mode control panel is the PF’s responsibility. When flying manually, the PF directs the PM to make the changes on the mode control panel

SOPs will also detail the general PM phase of flight responsibilities which are:

• checklist reading

• communications

• tasks asked for by the PF

• monitoring taxiing, flight path, airspeed, airplane configuration and navigation.

PF and PM duties may change during a flight. For example, the captain could be the PF during taxi but be the PM during take-off through to landing. Notwithstanding, the captain is the final authority for all tasks directed and done.

Normal procedures show who does a particular step by ‘crew position’ (C, Co-pi/lot F/O, E, PF, or PM/PNF)

• in the procedure title, or

• in the far right column, (see example hereunder of a B747 checklist for a 3 man crew), or

• in the column heading of a table 20.2 IMPORTANT NOTE

Note that each Operator of a particular aircraft type will have a preferred SOP for managing approaches and other phases of flight, to ensure standardization across all their crews. A basic SOP could be broadly constructed as a skeleton for adoption by all fleets, to establish a Company Standard. Readers should recognize that company SOPs have primacy. The examples of crew procedures in this Guide should be seen as indicative rather than prescriptive, in essence. However, by adopting or adapting specific details of items or their sequencing from the examples offered as guidance, Fleet managers could refine their SOP accordingly, for best effect.

A time when SOPs are of the essence ….

Unknown retouched photo MD 82 N454AA –photo: NTSB

… but if you want maintenance to trouble-shoot the problem … . Deal with the event correctly and then bring back the aircraft in one piece!

20.2 .1 A B-747 three-crew checklist showing required responses during engine start and who from C = Captain, P = Co-pilot, E = Flight Engineer, G = Ground

The dotted line shows where reading may be paused whilst running the checklist NOT FOR OPERATIONAL USE