Pilot's Guide to The Airline Cockpit

M. Casner Stephen

Description

This is the eBook (epub) edition of this title.This book introduces you to the fundamentals of the automated airline cockpit before you enter training at an airline company. Whether it is a turboprop, a regional jet, a Boeing, or an Airbus, most every airliner in operation today contains a flight management system, and autopilot, and other glass-cockpit systems. These systems represent a gap between the skills learned during general aviation training and experience and the skills you will be expected to have when you begin your airline flying career. This book will give you a head start on bridging that gap and acquiring those necessary skills.Unlike the typical "systems" manual, The Pilot's Guide to The Airline Cockpit places you in the left seat and takes you step-by-step through a challenging line flight. It teaches about the airline cockpit in terms of what you already know as a commercial multi-engine instrument pilot. You will learn how to use the flight management system and autopilot to plan and follow an assigned route. You will learn to deal with realistic enroute scenarios such as vectors, intercepts, holds, diversions, late descents, and many others. Along the way, you will learn how to decide which automation features to use and when, the limits of the automation's capabilities, how to monitor the progress of your flight, and remain in-the-loop while the automation performs its work.Updated to catch up to a few newer practices, this Second Edition is essential reading for anyone who has aspirations to fly for an airline-it is the ideal companion as you transition from general aviation to regional jets, and then to larger transport-category airplanes.

Informations

• Publié par: Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc.
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 15
• EAN13: 9781619540392
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Pilot’s Guide to the Airline Cockpit Second Edition by Stephen M. Casner
© 2013 Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc.
All rights reserved. The purpose of this book is to provide information on turbine operations. The user of this information assumes all risk and liability arising from such use. Neither the publisher nor the author can take responsibility for the actual operation of an aircraft or the safety of its occupants.
First edition, entitled "The Pilot's Guide to the Modern Airline Cockpit," published 2001 by Iowa State University Press; Second printing 2006 ASA.
Published 2013 by Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. 7005 132nd Place SE • Newcastle, WA 98059 Website: www.asa2fly.com • Email: [e-mail]
ASA-AL-CP2-EB epub ISBN 978-1-61954-039-2 LC# 2001016897
About the Author
Stephen M. Casner is a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Steve holds a Ph.D. degree in Intelligent Systems from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a B.S. degree from Millersville University. Steve holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate with type ratings in the Boeing 737, Airbus A320, and Cessna Citation. Steve is also a Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor with instrument and multiengine ratings.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the many pilots and engineers who have taught me many things about cockpit automation. Captains Bill Bulfer, Mike Montalvo, Dave Austin, Jim Irving, Corwin Logsdon, Cliff Bonner, Mark Buzzell, April Gafford, Scott Maclean, Brent Petersen, John Shopland, Ed Szetela, Gavin Tanchuck, and Lisa Wightman, and scores of pilots that I have had the privilege of jump-seating with whose names have been sadly forgotten. Randy Mumaw, Lance Sherry, Mike DeJonge, and Reid Fairburn have shared much of their engineering expertise over the years. Jim Papageorge, Bill Bulfer, Ed Hutchins, Mark Holt, and Eric Villeda took the time to read drafts of this book and provided me with many helpful comments. Doug Dupuie generously offered his graphic arts expertise in the production of several of the technical drawings in the book.


Introduction to the Second Edition

The purpose of this book is to introduce you to the cockpit automation found in the airline cockpit, before you enter training at an airline company. Taking the time to learn the fundamentals of cockpit automation now will provide you with a number of benefits in the future. Walking in the door with a solid understanding of how cockpit automation works will allow you to make better use of the limited time that you spend studying cockpit automation during airline company training. And by the time you leave training, your understanding will undoubtedly be greater than the pilot who had to devote precious training time to hurriedly memorizing knobs and dials procedures. Understanding the concepts that underlie the operation of cockpit automation systems will give you a considerable advantage over pilots who simply memorize button-pushing procedures. Aside from more quickly mastering and more readily retaining the procedures you learn, you will better understand how the automation uses the inputs and entries you make to produce its results. This understanding will serve you especially well in unexpected situations that differ from the routine ones you learned and practiced during training.
With a solid understanding of the fundamentals of how cockpit automation systems work, the problem of becoming proficient in a particular airplane at a particular company becomes a matter of differences training . Approaching a new airplane, you won’t have to start at the beginning because all cockpit automation systems are fundamentally the same. You will only have to commit to learning the details of the particular system installed in the airplane, and the standard operating procedures used by your company.
Why Is Mastering Cockpit Automation Challenging?
Instructors and trainees alike consistently report that the most challenging aspect of learning to operate a transport aircraft is learning to use the automated systems found in the cockpit. Why does cockpit automation give pilots so much trouble? One reason for this may be that computer systems are harder to learn about than mechanical systems. For example, while mechanical control yokes and control surfaces have moving parts that you can see, the computers in the cockpit have software and logic that can only be observed by reading, observing, hypothesizing, and experimenting. As with the other computers and mobile devices that you use, along with their many quirky behaviors there is some uncertainty in trying to form a solid understanding of a complex system that never really shows its face.
A second reason for the difficulty is that, while cockpit automation can relieve the flight crew of many tedious chores, it also places new demands on the flight crew. For example, how does the crew decide which automation features to use and when? What are the limits of the automation’s capabilities and how should they be taken into account during real flight situations? How does the flight crew monitor the progress of an automated system? What can the flight crew do to remain “in-the-loop” while the automation performs its duties? These are all new skills that must be learned in addition to the technical details of operating the system.
A last challenge presented by cockpit automation is that, as you acquire knowledge and skills with using automation, you must also be careful to maintain your manual (e.g., stick and rudder) flying skills. As the use of cockpit automation becomes more and more of an operational standard, pilots must find ways to preserve manual flying skills that are used less and less.
A Different Approach to Learning
This book does not begin with system diagrams and details as technical manuals often do. It explains cockpit automation in terms of what you already know as a commercial multiengine instrument pilot. One thing I have learned from the engineers who design cockpit automation is that the automation is built to support the flight crew in performing their familiar flight duties. Therefore, this book teaches you cockpit automation in terms of these duties and how the automation was designed to help you perform them. Through every phase of flight, the discussion begins with a review of the duties that the flight crew must perform. Cockpit automation systems are introduced as resources that the crew has available to help them when performing these duties. You will learn how to make informed decisions about which system features, if any, to use in which situations. You will learn how to assume the role of supervisor when delegating control of the aircraft to the automation: how to solicit information from the automation about what it is doing, and what it plans to do next.
How To Practice What You Are Learning
PC-Based Simulators
The cockpit automation systems described throughout the book are the ones found in the cockpit of the next-generation Boeing 737. Although several computer-based training systems are available for this airplane, most are developed for the airline training department market and cost up to several hundred thousand dollars. A more practical choice for individual pilots looking to get a head start on cockpit automation is a forthcoming and fairly inexpensive PC-based Boeing 747-400 simulator made by Aerowinx. The Aerowinx 747-400 simulator offers most of the cockpit automation systems discussed in the book. More information about this PC-based simulator is available on the WWW at: www.aerowinx.com
For the purpose of the material covered in this book, the differences between the Boeing 737 and the Boeing 747-400 are minor. The last chapter of the book points out the differences that will allow you to get started using this simulator immediately.
Automation In General Aviation Airplanes
Another excellent way to get hands-on experience working with computers in the cockpit is by using the technology now available in general aviation airplanes. Whether it be a simple IFR GPS receiver or a full glass-cockpit system like those offered by Garmin, Avidyne, and others, you will find that the basic concepts and skills presented in this book can be applied to planning, following, and modifying an instrument flight plan using any of these systems. Aviation Supplies and Academics (ASA) makes available a number of training products for the Garmin G1000 and Avidyne glass cockpit systems (www.asa2fly.com).


Chapter 1
The Quick Tour

This chapter takes you on a quick tour of the modern airline cockpit. You will see that the intimidating-looking computers in the cockpit are nothing more than a collection of tools designed to lend a helping hand as you perform the same flight duties that are required when operating any aircraft. These include the familiar chores of: (1) planning a flight route; (2) guiding the aircraft along the planned flight route; (3) making en route modifications to the flight route; (4) flying off the flight route to comply with simple ATC clearances; and (5) sometimes rejoining the flight route when cleared by ATC.
You will see how using cockpit automation changes the way you do your job. The automation is capable of handling some of the dirty work while you and your crewmate assume the role of supervisors who must intelligently manage the automation as it performs its duties.
Planning the Flight Route
Back at the gate, the flight crew works together with a device called a flight management computer to plan a highly tuned flight route that makes optimum use of time and fuel. You and your crewmate must first provide the flight management computer with information about the assigned route, aircraft, and expec