So a cargo plane flies all night to a destination gets there at, say 5am, the schedule has that plane not leaving till 8pm, would the aircraft be set to clod and dark? If so would a maintenance crew come in and warm up the A/C before its next flight? Lets say the Pilot reports an issue and the maintenance crew finishes correcting it would they leave the aircraft warm or shut it back down to cold and dark? Thanks in advance.

Usually depends on airline policy / airport policy for environmental efficiency and aircraft security. It's safe to say that if the aircraft is attended (there are people on it or working on it) the plane will be warm and if it will be left unattended, be cold and dark.

So a cargo plane flies all night to a destination gets there at, say 5am, the schedule has that plane not leaving till 8pm, would the aircraft be set to clod and dark? If so would a maintenance crew come in and warm up the A/C before its next flight? Lets say the Pilot reports an issue and the maintenance crew finishes correcting it would they leave the aircraft warm or shut it back down to cold and dark? Thanks in advance.

 

It would depend on the operator some may shut everything down or they may not, might have to do with the avalibility of ground support systems such as a GPU cart.

 

 

 

If so would a maintenance crew come in and warm up the A/C before its next flight?

 

In most cases yes unless you are at an outstation where maintenance support is minimal. 

 

 

 

Lets say the Pilot reports an issue and the maintenance crew finishes correcting it would they leave the aircraft warm or shut it back down to cold and dark?

 

It would really depend on the operational needs, like mentioned if the supply of GPU carts is limited then they may shut everything down. 

For people like myself that don't live the aviation world day-to-day, it would be great if someone could talk a little about systems that are on (or expected to be on at least) for a warm vs. cold and dark.  I presume the aircraft would be powered, but for instance would the IRS's have been aligned if the aircraft had been left unattended for 10+ hours.  What differences could we expect for long versus short turnover times?  I like the idea of simulator the "first flight of the day" type of thing, but honestly usually start full cold and dark because I just don't know which systems could be expected to be one and prepped vs still off.  I remember the FS2Crew for the MD11 (I think it was part of FS2Crew vs the MD11 itself) had a "warm" panel state it loaded that had the displays on, but dimmed, aircraft powered, but IRS still needed to be aligned, etc.  Would love to see something similar for the T7 (and NGX...although it probably is in the NGX and I just don't have the requisite knowledge).

 

Eric Szczesniak

What differences could we expect for long versus short turnover times?

 

I'll speak from a pax operator's point of view. Things can vary during a long turn since I've seen AA operate the APU during the entire turn (which is awesome during humid days) while Qatar likes to shut it down if the weather is nice and then they would hook up the ground air and power, and since mechanics are going in and out of the plane doing constant checks most systems are powered and the displays are not dimmed. The ADIRU's are usually off, emergency lights disarmed, packs off if ground air is used, etc.

Thanks Alex just trying to figure out when I would have to do a cold and dark or a warm on the 777 and you answered it perfectly.

Thanks for the reply.

 

 

 

...and the displays are not dimmed...

 

I suppose that makes sense on newer aircraft where the displays are LCD.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the MD-11 was still CRT which would make sense for dimming those?

 

Eric Szczensiak

Cargo is probably about the only time you'd be likely to see a cold and dark 777 in the real world. The pax ones are in the air almost constantly and for that hour or two they're on the ground during the turn time, the plane is going to be powered.

At Sydney, we have quite alot of airlines which arrive early in the morning (5-6am) and depart late afternoon (4-5pm). I don't fully understand what they are trying to gain (as whenever the aircraft is on the ground they are technically loosing money which could of been gained by the aircraft operating a flight).

 

They sit over on the stand-off bays for around 6 hours a day (towed to bay 2 hours or so prior to ETD, most get catering done on the stand-off bays), and when they are on the stand-off bays they usually have portable GPU's hooked up. They usually start the APU prior to tow to get some air-conditioning flowing through the cabin. AFAIK, at SYD we don't have co-located Ground Air Units on the Aerobridges or portable ones available on a regular basis (i.e only used when APU U/S etc).

I don't fully understand what they are trying to gain (as whenever the aircraft is on the ground they are technically loosing money which could of been gained by the aircraft operating a flight).

 

Its probably for schedule reasons, they don't want the plane to arrive in the dead of night back home or whatever. QR arrives here around 4ish and they don't depart until 9 pm and Air India also has a very long turn that lasts over half the day, we don't use stand-off bays though, AI sits at the gate and United tows the QR plane to terminal 3 after deboarding is finished and all of the international garbage/catering has been removed. 

 I presume the aircraft would be powered, but for instance would the IRS's have been aligned if the aircraft had been left unattended for 10+ hours.

 

Definitely off - they only take a few minutes to align anyway, so even on a short turn, you can shut them down completely and realign from scratch.

Not seen it mentioned yet, but there is a very compelling reason NOT to shutdown the entire aircraft - POWER ON FAULTS/FAILURES.

 

An aircraft that is left powered is generally more reliable than one that is shutdown at night and started in the morning. It also extends life of the parts as condensation is less of a problem, and so corrosion is delayed or even prevented.

 

Best regards,

Robin.

At Sydney, we have quite alot of airlines which arrive early in the morning (5-6am) and depart late afternoon (4-5pm). I don't fully understand what they are trying to gain (as whenever the aircraft is on the ground they are technically loosing money which could of been gained by the aircraft operating a flight).

Unless the aircraft has rights to fly domestically inside Australia (or to NZ, like United and Emirates etc) then they can't fly those routes.

 

They also don't want to arrive in Sydney at 7am, do a 1 hour turn and then arrive at London, LA, Dubai etc at 3am.

 

London Heathrow has a curfew, as does Sydney itself.

Cargo is probably about the only time you'd be likely to see a cold and dark 777 in the real world. The pax ones are in the air almost constantly and for that hour or two they're on the ground during the turn time, the plane is going to be powered.

Don't know Ryan, Delta has some long sit times with their 777's. You can usually see a couple sitting in KATL south of 27L on the ramp. But with them I imagine mx warms it for the super tug tow to the gate.

 

Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 2

 

 

 

 

London Heathrow has a curfew, as does Sydney itself.

 

Still amazes me that a major international airport would have a curfew.