Was on the FD of ACA 767-200 yesterday, while some maintenance tests were being carried out at the gate.1. Left CMD switched on. HDG SEL Mode. FD On. Both the FD and the contol column moved to show a turn to whatever heading was selected.2. Center CMD selected - Nothing happened.3. Right CMD selected - Same happened as left CMD.Center Autpoilot was U/S, and aircraft was dispatched on time to YYZ with an MEL entry, routeing via NATA as this took it within 60 minutes of all enroute diversions ( non ETOPS ).Mark

Why did you break my baby? Keep your grubby paws off our beautiful aircraft!I will be sure to tell my freinds at ACA T-Mission Management that Mr. McGrath broke the Centre A/P switch.:-)

Rob,Aircraft arrived from YYZ with this problem - I had already received the non ETOPS return flight plan before it arrived :-hah.BTW Would these be the same people as SOC the Ops & dispatch management :-lolSeriuosly though was just pointing out how cool it was to see autopilot engaged on the ground, engines off and the control column following the FD in HDG SEL Mode.Mark

Hi Mark,Sure it was broken when you got to it...that's what my nephew tells me all the time when my controller is broken ;-)Total Mission Management (TMM) sits above SOC and Ops/Dispatch as I understand the hierarchy. They make all the 'big' flight cost decisions and the like, then pass them down the line or over the wire if in flight. I do not work for ACA, but this is what my mate at ACA-CYYZ tells me.Any chance you could send me / post the non-ETOPS (irregular) flight plan, sounds interesting?It's been a while since I was on deck in a 767, airside passes via my buddy are now non-existent (or very hard to get ;-)Bye for now,Rob.

Rob,get Monday 26AUG West Bound NAT Tracks.Track A was used, as this took the aircraft within 60 minutes of enroute diversions.Can't remember the full flight plan, all I know is that the a/c flew a LOMON 2A dep out of GLA to STN and then NAT A. the North American routeing I am not sure of, but it ends at YSO followed by the SIMCO 1 arrival to YYZ.Unfortunately I think the ACA system only keeps the plan on file for a day or so.Also, we recently had a 767-300 in, as the usual 200 was tech in YYZ. ZFW for full pax load plus bags and cargo - 111800KGS - how close is that to what the team modelled.Mark

Hi Mark - interesting stuff - I had a detailed discussion with TTM about MAX ZFW and MLW and why ACA 767's seem to have MLW's lower than the Boeing published standard....and why they can vary greatly from two identical aircraft....see below...the team (PIC767) default ZFW is 245,000lbs (111,100kgs) so the short answer is that it is a very good average to use compared to real world 767 pond-hopping loads. The ZFW can be easily alrtered in the aircraft config file and the difference on the flight dynamic is very noticeable....fly the PIC at a low / empty ZFW and the 767 becomes the space shuttle on take off ;-)As for why the MLW (and therefore Max loading/ZFW for the 767) changes so dramatically is...airlines are billed for landings based on a formula which incorparates the published/planned landing weight the aircraft. People like T-Mission Management have determined that in many cases, they can save thousands of dollars by reducing the landing weight of the aircraft...there is a threshold around which the costs to land increase dramatically and it is more econmical to "cap" the load of the aircraft so that the actual landing weight is below the threshold and the airline saves big time on the landing fees....forego cargo and pax to save money on the landing charges...nuts isn't it...but that's what the bean counter's are there for ;-)If you / anyone want to hear more about the many ways bean counters (aka TTM) save money, I could go on for hours about those flight cancellations due to technical problems....the only techinical problem was the profit/loss statement for the flight

Am I understanding correctly that someone had to fly this 767 across the Atlantic with no autopilot???!! If so, that had to get unbelievably tired handflying at cruise!

"Center Autpoilot was U/S, and aircraft was dispatched on time to YYZ with an MEL entry"I read it to mean 1 of 3 A/P's not working....

Sounds like a busy week for engineers working on Air Canada :-)Had a Yaw Damper problem yesterday....http://www.ozemail.com.au/~iriddell/767/An...DamperLFail.jpgI'll let you guess which one was faulty ;-) Thank heavens for MEL's!The DDG's simply specify that you ensure that the other Yaw Damper is working... by carrying out a self-test (there's a test switch at the First Observers position for this).It would have been interesting to know how different the aircraft feels to fly with one YD inop. Each Yaw Damper has a maximum authority of 3 degrees (rudder movement) left and 3 degrees right. With two YD's active, that becomes 6 degrees left and 6 degrees right.Note the (optional) Antiskid Switch.Cheers.Ian.

Bloody foreigner's messing about with our 767's....first Glasgow messes up the Centre A/P, now Ian's fiddling about with the Yaw Damper circuits....I think we need a trained dog in the cabin to make sure you folks don't touch anything! Yeah, yeah, it was like that when it got to you...sure....likely excuse from the Maintenance crew.Oh, I think the "Anti-Skid" option on ACA's 767 refers to the PF's reserve pair of underware after he realises the Yaw Damper circuit and the Centre A/P have been messed about.Cheers Rob.:-)

Darn... This Center A/P defect must be contagious... I spent half of last night fixing a C A/P defect on one of our own aircraft!According to the BITE checks, the Center A/P computer (FCC) was telling us that the SLAT Switch wasn't working properly (There are some microswitches in the Flap Handle assembly which tell the A/P's that the flaps are at 1 degree or greater (According to the manuals, the switches send a discrete to the FCC's "for speed command control and versine-pitch computation".... I'm sure everyone knows what that means :-hah)Cheers,Ian.

Crack out the bio haz suits then :-lolMark

Rob,ACA have their own maintenance technichians at GLA, admittedaly (spelling) they are British.Mark

I am British....is there something wrong with British workers ;-?Rob.Hehe!

Rob,Nothing wrong with us Brits - Hardest workers in Europe.Btw thought you were Canadian :-lolMark