Right Engine Start

[ARM505 0]

Ok, this time I actually had to go and look at our SOP's. On my day off too! It's to minimise the chance of a tailpipe fire/fire during startup being blown towards the aircraft. How relevant this is could be debated, but there we are... The airconditioning points mentioned above are all decent reasons too, surprisingly enough we don't do it very often. Startups are accomplished so fast that it's a whole bunch of extra switch flicking to be done while both crew are supposed to be monitoring the start, or so says our little bible. What we do carry out on hot days, is to quickly switch both packs on as soon as both engines are stable, ie we don't wait for the normal point to do that part of the flow. This works fast enough to keep the cabin cool enough for our purposes.

[Airbus Commander 563]

Well just for the minds eager to learn out there looking for the Airbus drivers perspective I may as well post a few words of wisdom; On the A320 series we start the No. 2 engine first as it powers the yellow hydraulic system, which in turn provided the alternate brakes with power. For safety reasons, we like our brakes to be available to us at the earliest convenient point. On my 330, we start the No. 1 engine first as this powers the blue hydraulic system which powers the alternate brakes which we want for said reasons above... Rónán.

[Niall Hanley 0]

Ok, this time I actually had to go and look at our SOP's. On my day off too! It's to minimise the chance of a tailpipe fire/fire during startup being blown towards the aircraft. How relevant this is could be debated, but there we are... The airconditioning points mentioned above are all decent reasons too, surprisingly enough we don't do it very often. Startups are accomplished so fast that it's a whole bunch of extra switch flicking to be done while both crew are supposed to be monitoring the start, or so says our little bible. What we do carry out on hot days, is to quickly switch both packs on as soon as both engines are stable, ie we don't wait for the normal point to do that part of the flow. This works fast enough to keep the cabin cool enough for our purposes.

Thanks Simon, you always go to such trouble to dig out the really technical answers for us. It's much appreciated.

Well just for the minds eager to learn out there looking for the Airbus drivers perspective I may as well post a few words of wisdom; On the A320 series we start the No. 2 engine first as it powers the yellow hydraulic system, which in turn provided the alternate brakes with power. For safety reasons, we like our brakes to be available to us at the earliest convenient point. On my 330, we start the No. 1 engine first as this powers the blue hydraulic system which powers the alternate brakes which we want for said reasons above... Rónán.

Looking forward to seeing this in action in 3 weeks time, can't wait, again, thanks for the technical answer to these questions, always appreciated.

[badderjet 181]

Well just for the minds eager to learn out there looking for the Airbus drivers perspective I may as well post a few words of wisdom; On the A320 series we start the No. 2 engine first as it powers the yellow hydraulic system, which in turn provided the alternate brakes with power. For safety reasons, we like our brakes to be available to us at the earliest convenient point. On my 330, we start the No. 1 engine first as this powers the blue hydraulic system which powers the alternate brakes which we want for said reasons above...

Talk about fleet commonality, anyone?? (sorry Ronan, couldn't resist, I'm sure there are actual design considerations behind that but still )

[Airbus Commander 563]

Talk about fleet commonality?? (sorry, couldn't resist)

I know, that struck me too when I moved over from the 330 to the 320 series. I honestly couldn't see the sense behind it but whenever this gets brought up, we always just go by the line that the lads in Toulouse must know best...

[Niall Hanley 0]

I know, that struck me too when I moved over from the 330 to the 320 series. I honestly couldn't see the sense behind it but whenever this gets brought up, we always just go by the line that the lads in Toulouse must know best...

Don't you mean when you moved from the A320 onto the A330? Bit of a strange way to go that way?

[Airbus Commander 563]

Don't you mean when you moved from the A320 onto the A330? Bit of a strange way to go that way?

No, I meant what I said, from the A330 to the A320,or for a longer version;From the 737 classics to the A330 then as a captain to the A320 then to where I am now on the 330.

[Niall Hanley 0]

No, I meant what I said, from the A330 to the A320,or for a longer version;From the 737 classics to the A330 then as a captain to the A320 then to where I am now on the 330.

Ahh right, didn't think of it that way, oops!

[badderjet 181]

I know, that struck me too when I moved over from the 330 to the 320 series. I honestly couldn't see the sense behind it but whenever this gets brought up, we always just go by the line that the lads in Toulouse must know best...

Sweet! Some things we'll never know, I guess... Great story though!

[Airbus Commander 563]

Sweet! Some things we'll never know, I guess... Great story though!

You don't know the half of it...For aircraft that were supposed to be designed to maintain maximum commonality there's a hell of a lot of difference between them, which all comes to a head when we have to do our recurrent training and get our TR's renewed...

[badderjet 181]

Ha, I hear ya (and smelled that anyways )... In fact you're really lulled in the illusion by just looking at the panels from 318-340 (exclude the 380 here) and say instinctively, ah right, "all the same"... LOL BTW Do you ride 330 exclusively now or still hoppin the good ole three twenty a bit?

[vc10man 732]

wow, what a wealth of knowledge from what I thought would be a simple question, simple answer. Thanks to everyone.

Ditto here too.Some great revelations here,both personal and technical.We're indeed privileged.

[Airbus Commander 563]

Ha, I hear ya (and smelled that anyways )... In fact you're really lulled in the illusion by just looking at the panels from 318-340 (exclude the 380 here) and say instinctively, ah right, "all the same"... LOL BTW Do you ride 330 exclusively now or still hoppin the good ole three twenty a bit?

I've been tossed back onto the A320 again actually starting yesterday for the next 2.5 weeks... Oh bother...Luckily not on the DUB -> LHR route though.....

[Flamin_Squirrel 71]

I've heard LHR is a bugger. Is that simply because it's so insanely busy?

[Airbus Commander 563]

I've heard LHR is a bugger. Is that simply because it's so insanely busy?

That's part of it, you have to keep two heads up for as much time as safely possible when flying into LHR, but the main problem with being on the DUB -> LHR route is that the route is so short you generally get 6 sectors a day, if not 8 at times, which FYI, sucks all the joy outta flying... And add to that that it's a junior enough route used to give new pilots as much exposure and sectors as possible in their initial time with the airline,the likely-hood is that you'll be paired with a newish pilot who won't have the experience or be as good company as a more senior F/O that's been through the mills, Add to that that you're probably on that route for a week and that can make for a really bad week.... It's no coincidence that if you turn up late for work a enough times, you're mysteriously rostered to be on LHR for a week....but that's just the life of an airline pilot, best not to annoy the forces that be.... Rónán.