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Note: - I​ t is highly recommended that you read this manual while watching the
Aircraft Dissected series on my YouTube channel where all these systems are
explained visually. The entire manual is designed to be like a script and will
therefore contain portions where context will be very important. YOU CAN
WATCH THE ENTIRE AIRCRAFT DISSECTED SERIES WITH 16
EPISODES UPLOADED HERE:​ ​AIRCRAFT DISSECTED (ZIBO B737-800)
Introduction
This is the complete, comprehensive and unadulterated guide to flying the Zibo Mod
Boeing 737NG in X-plane 11. This text manual covers every single button, switch and
display in the flight deck of the 737-800 and explains its use and function in the aircraft
under both normal as well as non-normal operations. The guide has been written and
created very systematically, keeping the end user in mind throughout. The first few pages
will walk you through all of the major panels and systems in the aircraft, including the
overhead panels, the central pedestal and throttle quadrant as well as the forward panels.
The latter few pages cover a full-flight with the aircraft from a cold and dark state in San
Francisco (KSFO) all the way to Los Angeles (KLAX), where the aircraft will be parked
and brought to a turn around state. All in all, this work is a culmination of over 4 months
of research, scripting, video recording, intricate editing and last but not the least professional presentation. ​PLEASE CONSIDER LIKING THE VIDEOS ON
YOUTUBE AND SUBSCRIBING TO THE CHANNEL IF YOU ENJOY THE
CONTENT. IT TRULY DOES MEAN A LOT TO ME!
Important Links
- Full Aircraft Dissected Series: ​AIRCRAFT DISSECTED (ZIBO B737-800)
- FlyBy Simulations YouTube Channel: ​FLYBY SIMULATIONS
- Full Boeing 737-800 Procedure Checklist: ​BOEING 737-800 CHECKLIST
- Self-Made FMC/CDU Programming Checklist: ​FMC/CDU CHECKLIST
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Forward Overhead Panel ---------------------------------------- ​3 - 20
Chapter 2 - Throttle Quadrant and Central Pedestal ---------------------- ​21 - 43
Chapter 3 - Primary Flight Display (PFD) and EFIS Panel -------------- ​44 - 54
Chapter 4 - Navigation Display (ND) and EFIS Panel ------------------- ​55 - 64
Chapter 5 - Autopilot Mode Control Panel (MCP) ----------------------- ​65 - 73
Chapter 6 - Upper and Lower Display Units ------------------------------ ​74 - 86
Chapter 7 - FlightAware and Simbrief Flight Planning ------------------ ​87 - 97
Chapter 8 - Electrical Power-up Procedure ------------------------------- ​98 - 104
Chapter 9 - Programming the FMC/CDU ------------------------------- ​105 - 114
Chapter 10 - Preflight Procedure ----------------------------------------- ​115 - 122
Chapter 11 - Pushback and Engine Start Procedure ------------------- ​123 - 129
Chapter 12 - Taxi and Takeoff Procedure ------------------------------- ​130 - 136
Chapter 13 - Climb and Cruise Procedure ------------------------------ ​137 - 142
Chapter 14 - Initial Descent and Approach ----------------------------- ​143 - 149
Chapter 15 - Final Descent, Approach and Landing ------------------ ​150 - 158
Chapter 16 - After Landing and Shutdown Procedure ---------------- ​159 - 161
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CHAPTER 1: THE FORWARD OVERHEAD PANEL
Read the manual alongside the video​: ​Episode 1
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the first video in what I
hope turns into a long-standing series on this channel called ‘aircrafts dissected’. In this
edition, we’re specifically going to be focussing on the Boeing 737 series of aircraft
modded by Zibo in X-plane 11. I hope to make this series one of the most comprehensive
tutorials about the Boeing 737 for X-plane 11, as I plan to delve into every switch, knob
and those pesky little alarms that are located all around the plane that often confuse new
pilots attempting to learn how to operate this aircraft. That being said, I must mention
that I am in no capacity a pilot in real life. I am a 19 year old university student who has
an unquenchable thirst for aviation and the following video series is the culmination of
hours of personal research, video tutorials on YouTube and conversations with real world
pilots. I must also mention the things you learn in this series will also be applicable to the
737-700 and 737-900 series made by the ultimate team for X-plane 11. Another
important thing I must mention is that throughout the video, you’ll constantly see either a
red, yellow or green rectangle in the top-right hand corner of the screen. These rectangles
are there to showcase the importance of the switch or knob being talked about and will
dynamically change as I continue my explanation from system to system. The green
rectangle means that the system in question will be used on every flight. The yellow one
represents rarely used systems and the red rectangle of course means that the system in
question is purely for emergency purposes and not used in standard operating procedures.
I will be leaving time-stamps in the description below for each of these green, yellow and
red indicators so as to honor your time and in order to make it easier for you to watch
only certain sections of the video if you so please. Finally, it’s also important to mention
that though this aircraft is highly complex I will do my best to explain how some of these
systems work in addition to describing the functions of these switches and lights.
However, since I want this YouTube video to be as concise as possible, I won’t be able to
cover every system in great depth, so I encourage you to leave your questions in the
comments section and I will try to reply to as many of your questions as I can. One thing
is certain though, by the end of this tutorial series, you will be comfortable, if not
perfectly capable, to try to fly this aircraft yourself. I certainly do hope you guys enjoy
watching the video series as much as I enjoyed making it for you so without further
Adieu, let’s jump into the flight deck!
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Flight Deck Introduction
Alright, welcome to the flight deck of the boeing 737-800. So, the first thing you guys
should notice is that the aircraft is completely cold and dark, meaning that all of it’s
systems are off with no lights or sounds that can be heard. This is the ideal state we want
the aircraft to be in and it should be this way when you load up the aircraft for the first
time. So in this video, we will be taking a look at the ​overhead panel​ of the flight deck
and understand the different systems, switches, lights and other features housed within it.
You might have noticed that the overhead panel itself is divided into two distinct parts.
One is towards the back of the flight deck whereas the other one with more switches and
dials is right above the pilots for ease of access. This is done for a reason, as most of the
important systems such as the aircraft’s ​air conditioning systems, fuel, hydraulics and
primary electrical systems​ are all housed within this part of the overhead panel. We
differentiate these parts by calling this one the ​forward overhead panel​ and this one the
aft overhead panel​. In the interest of time, we will be covering only the forward
overhead panel in this video but fret not, as we will cover both the ​aft overhead panel
and the ​central pedestal ​in the next video of this series.
Flight Control Panel
Next up, we have the ​flight control panel​, which is
responsible for housing all of the backup switches for the
physical, movable flight surfaces on the aircraft. These
include the ​flaps, slats, spoilers, ailerons, vertical
stabilizers and the rudder​. These movable surfaces are
controlled by ​hydraulic fluids​ present throughout the
aircraft, and these 2 switch systems - ​A and B​ are
responsible for them. By default, these switches are set to
the ​on position​. You can view this by lifting up the
cover for the switches and checking its position. The two
switches also have ​‘low pressure’​ lights underneath
them to signify a failure or problem with either
hydraulic system​. Moving below, we have ​2 flight
spoiler switches​, one for each wing inside which these
systems are housed. Just like the hydraulic systems, both
of these are covered and are set to the ​on position​ by
default. Below this system is the ​yaw damper​. This is a
very important system which, among other things,
prevents an aerodynamic effect called the ​Dutch roll​. To
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make things simple, the yaw damper actively uses the rudder to assist the aircraft in
rolling or turning to either side, resulting in ​synchronized turning​. If you have ever
wondered how your coffee never spills over when the aircraft turns or banks to either side
during flight, you have the yaw damper to thank. Up on the top right of this panel, we
have some ​standby hydraulic system lights​ that light up whenever they require the
pilot’s immediate attention. Underneath these are two switches pertaining to the
alternate flaps system​. The red switch on the left is the ​alternate flaps master switch
which is ​set to off​ by default. In an event that the ​normal flaps settings​ don’t work, the
pilots would flip the cover and set the master to on, and then use the switch on the right to
either ​extend​ or ​retract ​the flaps accordingly. Finally, underneath this are 4 lights that
indicate problems with ​specific flight control subsystems​ within the aircraft.
Data Source Selectors
Below the flight control panel, you
have these ​navigation and data
source selector panels​. As you might
have noticed up above with the ​2
flight control switches​ and the ​2
spoiler switches​, this aircraft, along
with most other modern airliners
flying today are equipped with
redundant systems​ that act as a
backup ​in case the ​primary system
fails. That’s why there are ​2 ​of each
important system on the aircraft and
since ​navigation ​is extremely
important to ​any ​aircraft, there are 2
different sources from which the
pilots can obtain data about the
navigational parameters​ of the
flight at any point in time. The
switches on this panel all pertain to the​ flight management system​, which is responsible
for calculating the aircraft’s ​performance, trajectory, direction and navigation​. The
first switch allows the pilots to choose the ​VHF navigation source​ from ​system 1​ or
system 2​. These two switches achieve the same function but for the ​IRS or inertial
reference system​ and the​ FMC or flight management computer ​systems. During
normal operations, these switches are normally left in the middle position, so that the
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aircraft can automatically choose the most appropriate system to draw information and
data from. Underneath these three switches are ​2 display related switches​ which, in
addition to just using the data for automatic calculations, also allow the pilots to choose
whether the data displayed on their primary displays are from the ​primary​ or ​secondary
backup systems​. Normally, this panel is rarely touched by pilots during normal
operations except for when there is a known fault with a particular system that can’t be
fixed by local engineers or ground staff. In a scenario like this, pilots would ​manually
change the data source using these switches in order to get accurate data throughout the
flight.
Fuel Control Panel
Moving down, we have the ​fuel control
panel​. Right off the bat, this gauge displays
the ​fuel temperature​. Thankfully, X-plane
doesn’t model fuel temperatures and their
effects on aircraft performance, so you don’t
need to worry about that for normal point to
point operations. On either side of the fuel
temperature gauge are ​2 lights for the engine
and spar valve​- ​2 for each side of the
aircraft​. For those of you who don’t know,
fuel in a modern airliner is normally stored in
the ​wings ​and the ​fuselage ​of the aircraft. The
wings are fueled first and once they are full
and more fuel is required to complete the
journey, the central fuselage may also be
fueled up.These two ​engine ​and ​spar ​valves,
when illuminated signify that fuel from the
tanks are ​physically restricted​ from entering
the engine, thereby preventing any explosions
or other catastrophes from occurring when the
aircraft is on the ground. Coming underneath,
we have ​two fuel filter bypass lights​.
Normally, fuel from the tanks passes through
an extensive filtration process before being
injected into the engine for combustion and
thrust. However, in the event that one of these filters experiences a fault or a failure,
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instead of cutting off fuel supply to the engine, fuel will directly be fed into the engine
without the filtration process being applied, and the light on the appropriate side will be
illuminated. In the middle of these two lights is a ​fuel cross-feed light​ under which is the
fuel cross-feed valve​. Now to explain this, it's important to understand that the fuel
systems on either side of the aircraft work independently of each other. This is to prevent
an emergency from ​one side of the aircraft​ such as a ​burst fuel tank​, from affecting the
other side​. However, In the unlikely event that fuel is being drained unevenly from the
two wing tanks, for example, the left tank is draining at a rate of 800 gallons per hour and
the right one drains at 700 gallons per hour, this crossfeed valve may be ​turned ​by the
pilots so that fuel is ​shared ​between the two tanks. This can help prevent any problems
with the ​weight and balance of the fuel​ causing problems with the flying characteristics
of the aircraft. The light in the middle shines brightly when the feed valves are physically
moving to connect the two fuel lines and then becomes dim when the valves are in place
and the cross-feed system is working as intended. Underneath this are the 6 individual
fuel pumps​ that supply fuel from the​ fuel tanks​ to the ​engines​. These two are for the
central fuel tank​ located in the ​fuselage ​and these 4 at the bottom are ​2 individual pairs
of pumps for the left and right wing tanks​. It’s also important to note that, for longer
flights which require the central fuel pumps to be used, the aircraft will drain fuel from
the center first before draining the fuel from the wings. When the fuel reserves in the
central tanks have been depleted, the pilots will get a message on their ​recall indicators
and they will ​manually shut the pumps off mid flight​.
Electrical Panel
Coming to the next panel over here, we have
the ​primary power metering and
monitoring display​. Dividing this display
into 2 parts, on the left we have a ​DC
ammeter and voltmeter​ to measure the
supply of current and voltage using ​direct
current​ and on the right, we have an ​AC
ammeter and voltmeter​, measuring the
supply of current and voltage using ​alternate
current.​ Just above that is the ​CPS
Frequency indicator​ which highlights the
frequency with which electricity is being
supplied or used by different systems in the
aircraft. Underneath this display are ​three
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indicator lights​ which all illuminate when there is a problem with their associated
systems. The first light illuminates when the ​onboard main battery​ is about to be
discharged. The second light illuminates when there is a problem with the onboard ​TR
unit​ or the ​transformer rectifier unit​- which is responsible for converting ​AC power​ to
DC power.​ This third light illuminates when there is a fault with the electrical system as
a whole. This button is a ​maintenance button​ which is only used by ground crew and
certified engineers when a particular part of the electrical system needs to be fixed.
Coming down, this left knob allows the pilot to specifically see the ​power draw​ from
various different selected systems in the aircraft using ​direct current​. Notice how the
numbers on the display change when I go from the power being supplied by the on-board
battery to the various other electrical systems in the aircraft. The same is true for the right
knob but for monitoring ​AC power​ instead of ​DC power​. Coming underneath, we have a
black guarded cover under which is the ​primary battery switch​. Shutting this cover
down automatically switches the battery ​on​, and this is normally the ​first button​ or
switch to be manipulated by pilots when starting the aircraft from a cold and dark state.
On the right we have two switches controlling electrical supply to the ​passenger cabin​.
The left ​utility switch​ controls power being supplied to ​electrical heaters, cookers or
other electronic appliances​ that the flight attendants use to service the passengers. The
switch on the right labelled ​IFE/ pass seat​ stands for ​In-flight entertainment​ or
passenger seat power which enables passengers to use electricity to access the in-flight
entertainment systems as well as use power supplies to charge their own personal devices
for airlines that support these.
Standby Power and Engine Generator Panels
Moving below, we have the ​standby
power and generator drive panel​. Lets
first cover ​this black guarded switch in
the center and its associated light​. This
black guarded switch is the ​standby
power​ switch which is normally left to
the auto position and is rarely
manipulated by pilots during normal
operations. The standby power system
powers the most ​important electrical
components​ that receive power through
the standby ​bus-bars​ or ​busses ​as well as
battery busses​ during partial or total
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electrical failure, so they’re ​extremely important ​and better to not be messed with. The
light on top illuminates when the standby power is manually switched off. On either side
of this system are ​two red guarded covers​ which are the engine electrical generator
switches. During normal operation of the aircraft, the electricity is generated by the
motion of the fan blades of the engines, sort of like a very fast wind mill, which drives
these generators. However, in the unlikely event that one of these generators experiences
a problem, the pilots can manually flip the covers and disconnect the generators. Note
that this is a permanent disconnection and it physically prohibits the engines’ turbines
from acting as a power generation source for the aircraft. Only certified technicians and
engineers are allowed to repair this system when the aircraft is safely on the ground, and
even then, the entire engine needs to be opened up and stripped apart for a new generator
to be installed. Again, a system that doesn’t need to be messed with during normal
operations.
APU panel
Below this is the ​bus transfer and
electrical source selector panel​.
However, we will come back to this panel
after first looking at the APU panel, as it
is important to first understand what the
APU is and how it works before selecting
it as an electrical source. So, coming to
the APU panel, lets first understand what
it is.The APU or the auxiliary power unit
is a small jet engine situated in the tail of
the plane which works just like the
electrical generators within the engines. It
too, like a very fast mini-windmill
generates electrical power for the aircraft
while it is on the ground before the
engines are running and when there is no
GPU or ground power unit supplying
power to the aircraft. Additionally, the
APU also provides bleed air, which is a
supply of very hot air that goes through
many filtration processes to then be injected into the aircraft as breathable air for the crew
and passengers and also to be used to spin the engines to their idle speed during the
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engine start procedure. More on that later though. So, the first display we have here is
this gauge with 4 indicator lights above it. The gauge itself is an EGT or exhaust gas
temperature gauge which shows the temperature of the exhaust gas expelled by the APU
when it is running. The first light above the gauge is the Maintenance light, which lights
up when the APU is in need of maintenance but the aircraft can still fly in this state. This
is one of a very few number of important systems on the aircraft that doesn’t need to be
in perfect condition for the aircraft to operate safely. This second light is a low oil
pressure light. This light always illuminates when the APU is being started, as the APU
also requires fuel to stay running just like any other jet engine and the oil pressure is low
during the start-up phase of the APU. This is completely normal and the light should
automatically extinguish when the APU is running and is stabilized and providing power
to the aircraft. The light next to this signifies a fault with the APU as a whole and unlike
the maintenance light requires the ground technicians and engineers to sort the problem
out. The final light here is the overspeed light which illuminates when the APU was
either aborted during its startup sequence or if the APU has a general fault within it, as
the turbine is spinning faster than specified safety standards. Finally, this is the APU
master switch. The switch itself is spring-loaded and to start the APU, simply flick the
switch to the run position and release it. It will automatically switch back to the on
position. You will immediately notice the low pressure light come on as expected and the
EGT gauge will start rising to about 800 degrees, stabilize and then return to a more
reasonable temperature depending on weather conditions at the local airport.
Bus Transfer and Electrical Source
Selector Panel
Alright so now that we have a sound
understanding of what the APU is and how it
works, let's go back up to the bus transfer and
electrical source selector panel and see what
the different switches and lights mean. This
first light here is the ground power availability
light, which is illuminated when a GPU or
ground power unit is connected to the aircraft
and is supplying power. To use ground power,
simply flick the switch down to the on
position and you will see the aircraft come to
life. Underneath this are the electrical bus and
source selector switches. Starting from this
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black guarded switch, this is the bus transfer switch. Much like the standby power switch
we explored earlier, this switch is also always left to the auto position for the aircraft to
decide which source of electricity it wishes to use to power primary systems and so that
electrical power flows uninterruptedly throughout the aircraft. These two pairs of buttons
on the side illuminate when either the transfer bus itself is off or if the transfer bus isn’t
receiving any power from a source. Underneath these lights on either side are two
generator off switches for either side of the aircraft. These lights illuminate whenever
there is an active electrical source that the aircraft can draw power from to power that
side of the cockpit- which is normally the electrical generators within the engine.
Remember how I said that the left fuel system of the aircraft runs independently of the
right? Well the same is true here as well, as the left engine supplies power to the left side
of the cockpit and the right engine supplies power to the right side of the cockpit. Below
each of these lights are engine generator source selector switches. When the pilots turn on
the engines, they can then flick these switches to then draw power from the engine
generators to power the aircraft. Similarly, this light in the center is the APU generator
off bus light, which illuminates when the APU is available as a power source for the
aircraft to use. It too has these two switches that can be flipped to power the left and right
side of the aircraft respectively when the APU comes on.
Middle Column
Ok guys so I really hope I haven’t bored you to death yet but
thankfully this next column is not as complicated as the first two
and should be more fun and relatable for you guys. Starting with
these two knobs at the top, they are both concerned with internal
lighting in the flight deck. The first knob illuminates the circuit
breaker panel behind the first officer’s seat and this second knob
provides backlighting to all of the displays and switches of the
overhead panel specifically. Coming down, this lavatory smoke
light illuminates when smoke has been detected in any of the
lavatories in the aircraft when smokers feel the need to let loose
or whatever their justification is before being fined or imprisoned
in some cases. Underneath this light are two equipment cooling
switches which control the supply and exhaust of the cool air that
is fed to all of the electrical systems in the aircraft to keep them
cool even under heavy load. These switches are normally left to
the normal mode unless an alternative mode is required for the
specific operation of the flight. Underneath this is an open black
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cover which controls the emergency exit light strips that run along the cabin floors as
well as the emergency exit signs at the top of the doors on the aircraft. In a cold and dark
state, these are normally set to the off position to conserve battery power, however,
flipping the cover down automatically arms these lights in the unlikely event of an
evacuation or an emergency. Underneath these are the seatbelt signs switch as well as the
previously used no-smoking signs switch, which has now been replaced by this new
chimes switch. This is because smoking is banned on all domestic and international civil
flights globally and hence this switch is no longer needed but can be found on some old
737s still in service. The seatbelt signs switch is normally turned on after refueling has
been completed at the departure airport and is turned to the auto position when the
aircraft reaches its cruising altitude. The switch is never turned to its off position unless
the pilots wish to bring the aircraft to its cold and dark state like you’re seeing on screen
right now. The chimes switch simply sounds a chime in the cabin when the pilots wish to
get the attention of flight attendants working in the galleys. Underneath these switches
are two small switches to alert important personnel. The attend switch is another switch
that chimes a sound in the cabin alerting the flight attendants whereas the ground call
switch alerts any ground handling personnel working with headsets plugged into the
aircraft when the plane is safely parked on the ground. Finally, these two switches control
the left and right windscreen wipers and basically work like they would in a car with
varying speed modes to be used depending on the severity of the weather.
Heating Panel
And that brings us to the final two panels on the
forward overhead panel. So, at the top of this
column, we have 4 simple window heat switches
which, when switched on, prevent icing from
occurring on the 4 primary cockpit windows and
fogging them up. This middle button is a test
button that allows the pilots to test whether the
on/off lights and the overheat warning lights are
also working for this system. Underneath these
are the probe heat switches, which electrically
heat some of the sensitive equipment on the
outside of the aircraft such as pitot tubes,
temperature sensors as well as guided Alpha
Vanes. The lights on either side of these switches
denote problems with the outside components I
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just mentioned and are normally extinguished when the probe heats switches are turned
on. If the heat switches are turned on and the lights still persist, you not only know you
have a problem with a system, but exactly which system as well.
Anti-Ice Panel
Underneath this set of switches is the
anti-icing panel, where on the left
side, we have the ​wing ​anti-ice
switch. Now just like the APU, the
engines also produce hot bleed air
which can be introduced into the
wing through the leading edge slats
of the wings in order to prevent
build-up of ice and maintain safe
operation of the aircraft even in cold
conditions. The light above
illuminates brightly when the valve
allowing the bleed air in is opening
and becomes dim when it is locked open in a stable position. To the right of this switch
are two ​engine ​anti-ice switches which are similar to the wing anti-ice switch but instead,
heat the two engines to prevent the build-up of ice. Additionally, instead of feeding the
bleed air through the leading edge slats, the air is fed into the engines through the engine
cowling- which is the front rim of the engine nacelle. The lights above each of these
switches work identically to the light above the wing anti-ice switch.
Hydraulic pump panel
Moving further below, we have the
hydraulic pumps panel. Now in this
aircraft there are 2 hydraulic systems
A and B that are powered by 2
different sources: namely the engines
as well as an electrical motor on
either side of the aircraft. The 4
switches down here therefore allow
the pilots to switch on the 2 hydraulic
pumps powered by the 2 engines as
well as the other 2 hydraulic pumps
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powered by the electrical motors to fuel the hydraulics system in the aircraft. The lights
above simply display if there is low oil pressure in any of the pumps and this is to be
expected until the engines are turned on. Additionally, the pumps driven by the electrical
motor also have an overheat light to make sure that the electrical system isn’t
malfunctioning while using the electrical motor to power the hydraulics system.
Doors Panel
Coming underneath, we have a series of
lights to highlight which doors are open in
the aircraft. Any door that is not armed
and locked will have its corresponding
light illuminated in this panel, as you can
see here.
Cockpit Voice Recorder
Underneath this is the cockpit voice
recorder, which is part of the black box
system used to uncover pilot
communications after an unfortunate
crash or any other catastrophic incident
with the aircraft. The voice recorder
records the last 1 and a half hours of voice
communications between the pilots before the
moment of the crash. These buttons here are not
simulated in the zibo mod as of July 2020.
Pressurization Panel part 1
Underneath the cockpit voice recorder are some
analog instruments and buttons to measure
pressurization systems within the aircraft. Now it's
important to understand that, before every flight,
after the doors are locked and sealed, the aircraft
is pressurized internally in order to maintain a
certain cabin pressure throughout the flight. This
is based upon different factors such as the
aircraft’s planned cruising altitude as well as the
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altitude of the nearby terrain and local airport. However, the pressure is always kept
below that of what you will find the atmospheric pressure to be below 10000ft. This is
because at higher altitudes, the atmospheric pressure decreases, thereby disallowing
human beings from inhaling oxygen present in the air, leading to hypoxia and permanent
brain damage and even to death. Hence, this pressurization panel is extremely important
as it allows pilots to observe the outside air pressure represented by this longer needle
compared to the pressure that is being maintained inside the aircraft represented by the
smaller needle. A large enough imbalance between these two values near this red 9psi
range, can cause structural damage to the aircraft and can also lead to the aircraft
disintegrating mid flight due to harsh aerodynamic forces tearing it apart. This altitude
horn cutout switch on the right simply turns off an alarm that sounds when the
pressurization system has a fault.
Pressurization Panel Part 2
Now, instead of moving on to the top
of the next column like we’ve been
doing so far, lets go to this second
pressurization panel right here first, as
a lot of the systems we just discussed
in the previous panel are also
applicable here. So, at the top left of
the panel are two lights. The first one
indicates a problem with the auto
pressurization system in the aircraft
and is often accompanied by an alarm,
which as mentioned before can be
turned off by pressing this button over
here. Right next to it is this Off
scheduled descent light, which comes
on if the aircraft starts descending
before its planned top of descent point
or if it descends faster than what was
programmed in the flight management computer with no interference by the pilots.
Underneath these lights are two knobs with individual displays to adjust certain
pressurization parameters within the aircraft. The first knob pertains to the flight altitude
panel where the pilots program the planned cruising altitude for the flight in order to help
the aircraft plan the differential pressure between the cabin and the outside. Underneath
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this knob is the landing altitude knob where pilots will set the altitude of their arrival
airport which also assists the pressurization systems in performing their tasks. Moving to
the right, we have this analogue gauge that allows the pilots to monitor the position of the
physical valve that moves to let more or less air into the cabin to manage differential
pressure. This switch in the middle allows the pilots to manually open or close the
pressurization valve outside the aircraft to manipulate differential pressure manually.
Below, this knob allows the pilots to switch from the automatic pressure system to the
alternate or manual pressure systems. This will also illuminate their corresponding lights
above these switches. However, its worth mentioning that if you’re having to switch to
these systems, you are having a really bad day, as pilots would normally never need to
use these systems on normal point to point flights.
Air Temperature control panel
And that ladies and gentlemen brings
us to the final column of the forward
overhead panel which mainly deals
with the air temperature control as
well as air conditioning systems in the
aircraft. So, starting here, we have an
analogue gauge which displays the
current temperature in different
regions of the aircraft. Using this
knob to the side allows the pilots to
manually monitor the air temperature
in different zones of the aircraft such
as the control cabin or the flight deck
as well as the different passenger
cabins. Notice how the needle on the
gauge jumps up and down as the
source selector is changed.
Underneath these two is a trim air
switch. Now to understand the trim air
system, you need to understand a
basic overview of the air conditioning
system inside the Boeing 737-800. Bleed air is first produced at a source, which, in this
case is normally the engines during flight. Now keep in mind that bleed air is extremely
hot and hence needs to be cooled before entering the cabin so it enters a system called a
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PACK or a pneumatic air cycle kit which cools this extremely hot bleed air to near
freezing temperatures. From here, trim air is used to fine tune the temperature of this air
now coming from the PACK systems before entering the cabin to be used as breathable
air. Hence, the trim air system is very important to control the temperature of the air
entering the cabin for both the passengers as well as the flight crew. Underneath the trim
air switch are 3 Zone temperature lights followed by 3 zone air temperature control knobs
to control the temperature in the control cabin or flight deck, the forward passenger cabin
or business class and the aft passenger cabin, normally economy class. The Zone lights
will come on if the air temperature is becoming too hot or too cold which normally
indicates a problem with either the PACK system or the trim air system.
Air Conditioning Panel
Coming underneath these knobs we have the
air conditioning panel of the aircraft. Right off
the bat we see three lights which we will come
back to in a second. Below these lights, we
have the left and right recirculation fans. The
purpose of these fans is to take the air already
present in the cabin and feed it back into the
pack system to be reintroduced into the cabin.
This reduces the need for more bleed air to be
produced by the engines, thereby reducing the
workload of the air conditioning units in the
aircraft. Below these switches, in the middle
we have another analogue gauge that displays
the duct pressure of the 2 feedlines in the
recirculation fans systems that carry the air
around the aircraft. This little switch is a simple
overheat test switch to make sure that the
overheat light indicators below are working.
Coming underneath we have three important
switches pertaining to the PACK systems in the
aircraft. These two switches allow the pilots to
switch between turning the PACKS off, to their
automatic mode or to high mode, wherein the
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packs will work faster to cool bleed air that is coming from the engines. Its important to
note however that the PACK systems are normally left to the auto position so as to let the
automatic air conditioning systems in the aircraft decide the optimal usage for the PACK
systems. In the middle, we have an isolation valve switch which is extremely similar to
the crossfeed valve on the fuel control panel. The isolation valve’s function is to link the
two bleed air ducts that would otherwise work individually on either side of the aircraft in
case there is an issue with one of the PACK systems and the other PACK needs to handle
more bleed air now coming from both engines. Coming underneath we have a pair of 3
warning lights that illuminate when a problem occurs with their associated systems. The
first light on either side illuminates when there is a problem with either of the PACK
systems. The second wing-body overheat light illuminates when there is a leak in the
bleed air ducts passing through the wings and the fuselage of the aircraft. We just tested
this using the switch up above. Finally the last light down here is a bleed trip off light,
which illuminates when the bleed air being supplied to the PACK is too hot, thereby
leading to an increase in heat in the PACK system causing it to shut off. When pilots
identify this problem, they can either choose to turn off the PACK systems and allow
them to cool down, or if its only 1 pack that is malfunctioning, they can turn the isolation
valve to on and turn the other PACK system to high speed to take over the responsibility
of the malfunctioned PACK system. This Trip reset light is there to reset the
malfunctioning PACK system once its done cooling down to resume normal operations.
Finally, underneath here we have three air source selector switches to acquire bleed air
from. On either side are the engine bleed switches, which when turned on take bleed air
from the engines to then use for air conditioning. In the center is an APU bleed air
switch, which allows the PACKS to use bleed air from the APU when on the ground to
cool the aircraft before engine start and to also aid in providing the air for the engine start
procedure. When the engine bleed switches and the APU bleed switches are on at the
same time, you get this dual bleed light, alerting the pilots the the PACK systems are
receiving bleed air from two different sources. As for the RAM Door full open lights,
they come on only on the ground. This is because the RAM door is a small physical valve
on the outside of the aircraft that lets cool air into the PACK system to allow it to cool the
bleed air produced by the engines. During flight, having the RAM door partially opened
will suffice, as the cool outside air is entering the RAM door at a high speed. On the
ground however, when the aircraft is stationary, the entire RAM door needs to be opened
to use the cool outside air for the PACKs.
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External Lights Panel
And that ladies and gentleman covers the majority of the Forward overhead Panel. Now
all we have left is this little strip of switches below, which all pertain to the external lights
of the aircraft and some engine related switches. Coming all the way to the left we have
the retractable landing light switches which come down from their stowed position inside
the belly of the aircraft and shine forwards. These two lights on the side are the fixed
landing lights which serve the same purpose as the retractable ones, but are located on the
leading edge of the wings and don’t need to be stowed. These two switches are the
runway turnoff switches which shine a bright straight ray of light at an angle from the
front, allowing pilots to see where they are about to turn while taxiing at night as well as
poor visibility conditions such as fog. This light here is the taxi light, which simply
illuminates a bright straight light located on the nosewheel of the aircraft to allow pilots
to see where they’re going while taxiing on the ground. We have already covered the
APU, so let's keep on going, and we come to the Engine start switches, one for each
engine of course. Flicking these switches to the ground position begins the engine start
procedure, which involves taking bleed air from the APU to spin the engines to their idle
speed before injecting fuel into them. The Continuous and flight modes on this knob are
used when flying through severe precipitation such as rain or snow as it makes sure that
the engine igniters are constantly keeping the engines running regardless of the large
amounts of water and moisture entering the engines during such harsh weather
conditions. In the center we have an engine ignitor switch which pilots use to decide
which engine igniters the aircraft should use to start both engines. Pilots normally never
put this switch to both and usually choose 1 igniter for the first flight leg and the other
igniter for the return leg in order to use both igniters equally throughout the lifespan of
the aircraft. Moving further right we have some more external light switches for the
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aircraft. The logo light illuminates the logo of the airline on the tail of the aircraft. The
position light has three modes, off, steady and strobe and steady. When switched to
steady, the position lights at the tip of the wings light up as green on the right wing and
red on the left wing. This serves two purposes. Number 1 is to alert ground crew that
pilots or other flight personnel are currently working in the aircraft and number 2 is to
allow other planes taxiing around the airport to know whether the aircraft is coming
towards them or moving away from them. Flicking this same switch to the strobe and
steady position illuminates the ends of the wing in a strobe pattern so as to alert other
pilots on the ground as well as in the air that an aircraft is in their line of sight. Moving
over, this switch is the anti-collision light switch, which is a red strobe light on the top
and bottom of the aircraft fuselage. This light is turned on before engine start to alert
ground crew that the engines are about to be started and they should disconnect any
ground equipment still attached to the aircraft and move away from the plane. Finally,
these two lights illuminate the underside of the wing and the wheel-well compartment
inside the landing gear of the aircraft. Finally, this last switch helps control the lighting of
the standby compass instrument on the top of the glareshield, allowing pilots to switch
between dim and bright modes.
Conclusion
And that ladies and gentlemen brings us to the end of the exploration of the forward
overhead panel on the Boeing 737-800. If you made it this far, congratulations - you now
have a sound understanding about every major system on this aircraft and are now aware
of the functionality of practically every knob, switch, alarm and light above the pilots in
the flight deck. Now I must also mention that all of the documentation and websites I
used to research for this video are linked down below in the description, including a
written text version of this entire video, if you prefer to read those and understand more
about this aircraft. That being said the next video in the series will focus on the aft
overhead panel and the central pedestal, which houses all of the navigation and radio
equipment that pilots use to communicate with air traffic control and should be coming
out very soon. If you guys enjoyed the video, make sure to flyby the comments section
and let me know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. Make sure to
perform a full stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button if you enjoyed the
content and press the bell icon for future notifications from this channel and usual,
thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 2: CENTRAL PEDESTAL AND
THROTTLE QUADRANT
Read the manual alongside the full video​: ​EPISODE 2
Introduction
What's going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the second episode in my
Aircrafts Dissected series, wherein I delve into every switch and knob in the aircraft to
give you guys an in depth understanding of every system present in the Zibo mod Boeing
737-800. In this episode, we’re going to be taking a look at the aft overhead panel as well
as the central pedestal and the throttle quadrant, also known as the control stand in this
aircraft to understand how the pilots operate the engines, move the flaps and speed brakes
as well as understand the various ways in which pilots communicate with air traffic
control. So, last thing I would like to say before starting is that if you haven’t seen the
first episode in this series, I highly encourage you to do so, as I cover all of the systems
on the forward overhead panel in the aircraft such as the aircraft’s fuel, hydraulics, air
conditioning systems as well as the electrical systems in the aircraft. It will greatly help
you contextualize what you are about to learn in this episode, so yeah go watch that if
you haven’t already. Additionally, I would also like to thank this person on screen who
pointed out a few errors in my explanation in the previous video relating to the bleed air
and pressurization systems in the aircraft. I will be leaving this comment in the
description of all of the videos in this series so that you guys can obtain the correct
information about these systems directly from the horse’s mouth. That being said let's
jump into the flight deck and start this episode of Aircrafts Dissected!
Introduction Aft Overhead Panel
So ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the aft overhead panel of the flight deck, which
houses some important systems such as the inertial reference system or the IRS, backup
radio communication equipment as well as different testing mechanisms to be able to
check whether the aircraft properly responds to emergency situations such as stalls or
overspeeding. As was the case in the first episode of the series, we will be using ​flows ​to
get through these panels, so in the case of the aft overhead panel, we will be transitioning
from left to right. So without further adieu, lets jump into it.
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Electronic Locator Transmitter
First up here we have the ELT light, which
stands for the Emergency Locator
Transmitter. During an unlikely event of an
emergency such as immersion in water or
encountering high G forces on impact with
the ground, this system in the aircraft will
send out an automatic distress signal which
can be detected by non-geostationary
satellites to allow the aircraft to be found
using various GPS systems. The switch is normally left to the armed position and the
light next to it comes on if such a signal has been emitted or if there is a fault with the
system.
Leading Edge Devices Annunciator
Moving below on the left here we have the
Leading edge devices annunciator, which
shows the positions of the slats and flaps of
the aircraft located on the leading edge of
the wings. As the flaps move positions,
these lights transition from being yellow,
implying that the flaps are transiting, to the
green lights where they are fully extended.
Underneath this panel is the PSEU light,
which stands for Proximity Switch
Electronic Unit. This system is
responsible for making sure that the
inputs made by the pilots when
manipulating different moving parts in
the aircraft actually have the desired
results. For example, if the pilots decide to extend the flaps to the 5 position, it is this
system that makes sure that the aircraft understands that command and properly executes
it to extend the flaps to that position.
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IRS Display Unit
On the top right here, we have the
main display for the IRS system,
which stands for the inertial
reference system in the aircraft.
Now you may have heard me
using that name a couple times in
this video series so far, the reason
being that it’s a very important
system. The IRS system allows
the aircraft to understand its own
place with respect to its
surroundings from a navigational
perspective. This means that
without the IRS system, the
aircraft wouldn’t know where it
is, where it's headed and what
direction to fly. This is even more apparent when you see the central displays in front of
the pilots when the IRS systems haven’t been aligned. As you can see, there is no
artificial horizon, no map screen- basically nothing that the pilots can use navigationally
to be able to help fly the aircraft. Additionally, the IRS, among other things also provides
the pitch, roll and yaw parameters of the aircraft at any time. So, coming over to this
display, what you see on here can be manipulated by this knob over here, which allows
you to gain a lot of information about the aircraft. Switching it to this TK/GS mode
allows you to see the track that the aircraft is flying as well as the ground speed of the
aircraft. Switching it to ​P-pos ​allows pilots to see their p
​ resent position​ through these
coordinates up here. Note that these coordinates are in the degrees and minutes format
with latitude first and longitude second. So currently, when parked at gate D5 at San
Francisco international airport, this display reads 37 degrees, 37 minutes north and 122
degrees, 22.8 minutes west. Switching the knob to ​wind ​shows the wind speed on the left
and the wind direction on the right. Switching it to Hdg/sts displays the aircraft’s current
heading on the left and the system status alerts on the right. This smaller knob here
simply adjusts the brightness of the display. This keypad on the right allows the pilots to
manually type the present position of the aircraft in order to assist a malfunctioning IRS
system to get calibrated properly. This little knob here allows the pilots to switch between
the left and right IRS systems in the aircraft. There are 2 of these systems, because as
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mentioned in the previous video, all important systems in the aircraft always have another
redundant or backup system in case of any faults or emergencies.
IRS Mode Selector Unit
Below the IRS display unit we have the
IRS mode Selector Unit, which allows
pilots to be able to automatically align
the IRS systems during the preliminary
preflight procedure. Right off the bat,
this ​GPS ​light here illuminates when
there is a problem with the GPS system
in the aircraft thereby preventing the
IRS units from obtaining the present
position of the aircraft. Underneath this
light are a pair of 4 lights, ​4​ for each
IRS system. This first ​Align ​light
comes on when the IRS systems are in
the process of aligning and obtaining
their present position as well as their magnetic heading. This ​on DC​ light signifies that
the IRS system is drawing ​direct current ​from the ​main ​battery units of the aircraft. This
light normally comes on when the pilots ​switch ​this knob to ​nav ​to align the IRS units
and then extinguishes when it begins its alignment procedure. Coming underneath, this
fault ​light simply signifies a fault with that specific IRS system. On the right, this DC fail
light comes on if the IRS systems are unable to draw direct current to be operational. As
for this knob below, we’ll talk about this in the electrical power-up procedure video,
where we will start this aircraft from a cold and dark state and do a full flight with it.
Service Interphone and Dome light
Moving further right here, we have this Service Interphone switch which allows the pilots
to communicate with ground
personnel who have headsets
connected to the aircraft.
Moving below, this dome light
switch allows the pilots to
switch on this ​light ​which
illuminates the entire cockpit.
The switch has three positions
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which allows the pilots to switch between turning the light to be dim, bright or
completely off.
Audio Control Panel (Disclaimer)
Moving towards the right of the aft
overhead panel, the first panel up here is
the Audio control panel, where pilots can
change the overall configuration of the
audio systems within the aircraft. Now,
just a couple of things I need to say
before starting on this panel. Firstly,
every switch with these inop stickers
above them means that the system in
question is inoperative. Airlines often do
this when they order the aircraft from
Boeing and don’t wish to pay for another
unnecessary system to be added into their
aircrafts. However, since the cockpit
configuration doesn’t change, the buttons
for those systems still exist, and hence
airlines put these inop stickers to highlight that those switches don’t necessarily do
anything. The next thing I wanted to say was, although the Zibo mod is an amazing and
faithful recreation of the 737-800 in X-plane 11, it still doesn’t simulate every single
system in the aircraft. For example, these bottom row of knobs and switches here are not
clickable and are therefore not simulated in this aircraft in any way. Therefore, my plan
for switches like these throughout the aircraft is to still explain their function, but not go
into too much detail, as this way, you know what the system does on the real aircraft but
don’t need to learn too much as you won’t be needing it on the Zibo mod anyway.
Sounds fair? Alright!
Audio Control Panel (Explanation) - Transmit
So to start off with, these ​top ​row of switches here all pertain to different radios the pilots
can choose to ​transmit ​on. Starting off on the left here we have three ​VHF ​radios which
stand for very high frequency radios. These are the frequencies over which air traffic
control communications happen all the time. Moving to the right, ​these ​two switches are
the HF or high frequency radios. Unfortunately, these are unclickable and are therefore
not simulated in the zibo mod. Moving to the side, we have the FLT or flight ​interphone
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systems that pilots can use to communicate with flight attendants. The SVC switch is the
service ​interphone system for pilots to communicate with ground crews such as pushback
drivers and such, and this ​PA ​switch obviously stands for passenger announcement
allowing pilots to talk ​over ​radio chatter and give public addresses to the passengers in
the back.
Coming down, ​these ​buttons allow the pilots to choose which radio communication
channels they ​receive ​audio from. The buttons in this row pertain to the ​same ​audio
channels as the row above, with ​these ​ones used to receive VHF frequency audio, ​these
two ​used for HF frequency audio and ​these ​ones for the flight interphone, the service
interphone and the PA system. However, the Zibo mod only simulates the ​first 2 ​VHF
buttons you see on screen right now. Anyway, to listen on a particular channel, simply
push ​the button and the button will light up. You can then spin the button around to
adjust the volume of the incoming audio. Now a note on transmission and reception of
radio communications. Selecting a button to ​transmit ​on will automatically also allow
pilots to ​receive ​audio from that source. For example, if I simply select VHF 1 as my
audio ​transmission ​source, then I will automatically also ​receive ​audio on VHF 1.
However, if I also select this VHF 2 knob, I will ​transmit ​only on VHF1 but I will
receive ​audio from both VHF 1 as well as VHF 2 sources. Just thought I’d let you guys
know that.
Coming underneath, this row of switches pertains to the navigational radios in the
aircraft. I must preface this by saying that my knowledge of navigation radios is quite
limited, but I will tell you guys the basics of what I found out from my research. So, if
you guys have never flown in a general aviation aircraft and have no prior experience
with aviation, then it’s important for you to understand that not all frequencies are used
for voice communications. Some radio frequencies can also be used to allow an aircraft’s
navigation systems to synchronize with different navigational beacons littered all over the
world, which allow the aircraft to perform complex visual approaches as well as perform
perfect auto-land procedures using the ILS or instrument landing system during difficult
weather conditions such as dense fog. However, along with communicating effortlessly
with the complex navigational systems present in these modern airliners, these
navigational beacons also emit different morse code identifiers to allow pilots to listen to
them and tune in various different courses, headings and tracks to be able to fly an
approach when the automatic navigation system doesn’t work as intended. Therefore,
these first 2 switches here allow pilots to listen to the two primary navigation radios.
These two switches obviously are inoperative and this marker switch I’m assuming
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relates to the approach marker audio. This speaker switch allows the pilots to redirect the
navigation audio from one of the systems to the loudspeakers in the aircraft. However,
this switch is also not simulated in the zibo 737.
Coming down here, none of these switches are simulated in the aircraft. However, as
mentioned before, I’ll just go through some of them to give you guys a brief idea.
Starting off with this switch, it is simply a push to talk switch. Push the switch up to talk
over a radio to an external radio station and push the switch down to talk over the
intercom to an external radio station. This next knob here is a filter switch, which, when
switched to the left only lets in voice audio from radio chatter, when switched to the right
only lets in the morse code identifiers being emitted by navigational aids and beacons and
lets in both when switched to the middle, both position. Finally, this last switch lets the
pilots switch between operating the radios in the normal or alternate modes.
Engine Display Panel
Okay, so coming down, we have an
engine display panel which displays
some important engine-related
information - as expected. These first
two reverse lights light up when the
thrust reversers in the aircraft experience
a fault. Underneath this are two switches
labelled EEC which stand for Engine
Electronic Control. The purpose of these
switches is to automatically regulate the
engines and have them operate at
optimal parameters. These two engine control lights on either side illuminate when there
is a fault with the EEC system.
Oxygen Panel
Under here is the oxygen indicator panel. Now, if
you guys don’t know, the oxygen masks that
deploy for passengers are very different from those
used by pilots during an emergency. The pilot’s
masks, as you can see, are very specialized so as to
allow them to breathe safely as well as operate the
aircraft in the best way possible. Hence, the oxygen
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supply for the pilots is dedicated and is separate from the oxygen canisters present above
the passenger seats that supply oxygen for the crew and passengers. The first gauge here
therefore displays how much dedicated oxygen is available for the pilots to breathe in
their specialized oxygen masks. This pass oxygen switch on the right is there to enable
the drop of oxygen masks for the passengers and flight crew. When in the normal
position, the automatic pressure systems will automatically deploy the masks in the event
of a cabin depressurization. However, the pilots can also turn the system on manually in
case the automated systems experience a fault. This light simply indicates when the
masks have been deployed.
Landing Gear Indicator Lights
Under here, we have three landing gear lights, which
represent the position of the main undercarriage of the
aircraft. When green, the landing gear are down and locked.
When the lights are not illuminated, the landing gear is
retracted and safely stowed within the wheel-well of the
aircraft.
Flight Data Recorder
Next up, we have the flight data recorder switch, which, as the
name implies, records different aircraft parameters everytime
the aircraft is in flight or when the aircraft is on the ground
and has at least one engine running. The light beside it simply
shows that the data recorder is inactive, off or has a fault
within it.
Warning Test Panels
To the right of the flight data recorder, we simply have
two warning test systems. The first is the overspeed
warning test, which sounds a simple noise in the
cockpit to alert the pilots that the aircraft is
overspeeding, like so. This second test system is a stall
warning test, which along with producing a noise in the
cockpit, also arms a vibrating stick shaker within the
yoke of both the captain and the first officer, to provide
tactile feedback that the aircraft is in imminent danger
of stalling. There are two buttons, and I don’t think I need to explain why…
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Throttle Quadrant and Central Pedestal.
And that ladies and gentleman, brings us to the end of the exploration of the aft overhead
panel. The rest of this video will focus on the main throttle quadrant in the aircraft, along
with the central pedestal, which houses some of the main buttons, switches and displays
that pilots use to communicate with air traffic control. So without further adieu, let’s first
start with the throttle quadrant, located in the middle of the captains’ and first officer’s
seat.
Trim wheel System
So, just as the previous panels, we will
take the same approach of covering this
part of the flight deck by going from left
to right. So on the very left, we have a
trim wheel which is mostly responsible
for controlling the pitch of the aircraft. If
you come from flying general aviation
aircraft, this is basically just a
manifestation of the overall trim system
within those aircraft, as it helps pilots to
relieve pressure on their sticks while
flying the aircraft manually. You can
imagine how pulling the yoke up and
holding it in that position all the way
throughout a climb can be painful for the
pilots, so by trimming the aircraft up,
they can hold the same pitch attitude
with only minimal inputs on the yoke.
As for the trim wheel, it can be moved using 3 different ways. One is by physically
moving the wheel by putting your mouse over it, whereas in real life, pilots use a handle
protruding from the side of the trim wheel to spin it when experiencing a hydraulic
failure. The next way is by using these two convenient buttons located on both the pilots’
yokes to trim the aircraft up or down and the third and easiest way is when the autopilot
systems are armed and they take control of the pitch modes in the aircraft to
automatically spin the trim wheel during flight. This little strip next to the trim wheel is
the trim indicator, which shows the numerical position of the pitch trim system. On
regular flights, pilots manually set the trim to be somewhere in this green takeoff range
before takeoff, and the specific numerical value is decided by this FMC or flight
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management computer when it calculates the aircraft’s climb performance based on the
fuel weight, passenger weight and the characteristics of the runway the aircraft is about to
depart from. We’ll be taking a more in depth look at this in the taxi and takeoff episode
of this series.
Speed Brake
Moving to this big white lever, this is the speed brake lever, which
assists the aircraft in slowing down by extending these speedbrakes
over the wings. These markers on the side indicate the range by
which pilots can extend the speedbrakes during flight. When the
aircraft is flying, the pilots can only extend the speed brakes until
this flight detent mark. However, upon landing and when on the
ground, the speed brakes can be extended all the way to the back
providing maximum aerodynamic braking action to assist the
aircraft in slowing down. Note that extending the speedbrakes mid
flight must be done manually, but this is not the case when the
aircraft lands, as the speed brakes can simply be set to the arm
position, which will automatically deploy the speed brakes when
the pressure sensors within the back landing gear detect contact
with the ground. Additionally, arming the speed brakes also
illuminates this green light in front of the pilots to alert them that
the brakes have been armed for deployment when the wheels touch
the ground.
Main Throttles and Reversers
Coming to the center here, I’m sure you all know what these two are, but for those
absolute beginners out there, these are the main throttles which control engine power and
thrust in the aircraft. There are 2, 1 for each engine of course, but pilots normally use
both the throttle levers together to achieve the particular thrust setting they want, unless
there is a loss of thrust in an engine and the other engine needs to be used to compensate
or if one of the engines experiences a flat out failure. Just like the trim wheel, there is
more than 1 way in which these levers will move during flight. The first is obviously
when pilots manually move the throttle levers, which, during normal flight operations is
usually only done during takeoff and during final approach towards a runway. The
second way is by the autothrottle systems, which along with the command autopilot
systems manage the aircraft's speed, heading, altitude and vertical speed throughout the
flight when the autopilot systems are functional. Now note that pulling the thrust levers
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all the way back doesn’t shut the engines off - it simply
runs them at an idle speed, where they still produce
thrust but just not enough to gain any real speed or
momentum in a short period of time. Picture it as
having your car turned on, the parking brake released
and a feather placed on the accelerator. Now there are a
couple of buttons on the throttle quadrant that allow
pilots to turn on and off some important systems.
Firstly, on the side of each throttle lever is this button
which disengages the autothrottle system. Pilots
normally push this button when they are on final
approach to the runway and are stabilized - meaning
t5hat the flaps and gear have been selected for landing
and they want to take control of the thrust levers to
manually land the aircraft. Additionally, these two
switches in front of the thrust levers arms the TOGA
mode which stands for takeoff and go around thrust,
which is a preprogrammed thrust setting in the flight
management computer that instantly provides high
thrust during the takeoff roll, as well as during an
aborted landing sequence also known as a go-around.
In front of these thrust levers, you have
these two thrust reverser levers, which can
only be activated when the main thrust
levers are in their idle position, as you can
see on screen here. The thrust reversers open
these doors on the outside of the main
structure to let the air in from the sides and
pushed forward from the front. What
essentially happens is that the engine,
instead of applying a force backward and
accelerating forward, applies a force
forward and therefore, instead of
accelerating, begins decelerating, hence the
name - thrust reversers. This allows the
aircraft to decelerate faster and more
importantly, takes some of the responsibility
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off of the brakes in the landing gear, which can get really hot if relied upon for the entire
deceleration process. When these levers are simply lifted the engines run at idle speed
and therefore provide idle reverse thrust. However, pilots can manually pull these levers
back to increase the deceleration by running the engines at a higher setting. If you’ve ever
wondered why, before touchdown the aircraft goes extremely quiet and then just after
touchdown, it sounds like the engines are being spooled up again, its because pilots turn
the engines to their idle speed just before touchdown, and right after the back wheels
make contact with the ground, they arm the thrust reversers.
Flaps
Coming to the right, we have the main flap lever, which the pilots use to
extend or retract the flaps depending on the phase of flight. These numbers
on the side of the flap lever denote the angle that the flaps are extended at
with respect to a horizontal wing in degrees. For example, extending the flap
all the way to this 30 detent extends the flaps at an angle of 30 degrees from
the horizontal, as you can see here. To move the flap, simply lift the lever
and place it in any of these detents beside these numbers. Additionally, any
flap setting will also be displayed in this analogue gauge in front of the pilots
situated right next to the gear lever. On the right of the flap lever you simply
have another trim wheel which is identical to the one we just explored.
Behind the Thrust Levers
Coming behind the main throttle quadrant we have some important flight
systems as well as a few important emergency systems. Starting at the top
left, we have this parking brake lever which works identically to the park
brake in a car. Pulling this lever up engages the
rubberized brakes in the wheels of the aircraft
preventing the plane from moving around when
on the ground. As you can see, it also illuminates
this big obvious, red light to signify when it's on.
In the middle here, we have these two fuel
ignition and cutoff levers. You might remember
from episode 1 that these are used to physically
open the fuel lines in the aircraft to allow fuel to
flow into the engines to be ignited for combustion and thrust. Watch the first
episode in the series to know more! Next up on the right we have a couple of
trim cutout switches, which prevent the pitch trim system in the aircraft from
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working. This first switch is a main
electronic trim cutout switch, which
prevents pilots from controlling the trim of
the aircraft from the control yoke. This
other switch prevents the autopilot
systems in the aircraft from operating the
pitch trim system. You can also see there
are a couple of metal guards in front of
each of these switches to prevent pilots
from accidentally flipping these switches
on or off. Finally, up here, we have a little
horn cutout button, which is mainly used
for training purposes. Normally, when the
aircraft is too close to the ground at low
speeds without the landing gear extended
or any of the flaps extended, the aircraft
recognizes this as a danger, as it should
and sounds an alarm in the cockpit. However, if new pilot cadets are training in properly
simulated conditions and are trying to perform no flap landings or trying to fly low by the
ground without the landing gear extended, then this button may be pressed to disable that
alarm.
Overheat and Fire Protection Panel
Moving further back here, we have the overheat and fire protection panel which becomes
very important when, you guessed it, there are any overheating problems or any fires
detected in major areas in the aircraft. To start off, these two buttons over here allow the
pilots to select which fire detection loop they wish to use to detect a possible fire in the
aircraft. This aircraft has two dedicated fire detection loops A and B, which work
independently of each other. In the real aircraft, pilots will be able to switch between
switching these loops for both sides to either A or B. However, this switch is not
simulated on the Zibo 737 and is hence always left to the both positions. Moving below
this switch, on the left side, we have this test switch. Flicking it to the left simply allows
pilots to test whether the engine and APU’s fire detection unit’s fault and inoperative
lights are working as intended. Flicking this same switch to the right tests these two
engine overheat lights, the wheel weel overheat lights signifying a possible fire in the
main landing gear compartment of the aircraft, as well as lights up these 3 large red lights
in the middle. Additionally, a blaring alarm is also sounded to alert the pilots that there is
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an imminent danger on board. So, lets come to the obvious feature of this panel, which
are these three large switches in the middle. These switches are the engine isolate and fire
extinguishing switches for the two engines as well as the APU in the middle. Now
unfortunately, I cannot simulate an engine fire for you in the Zibo 737, so I will just give
you a feel for it by pressing this test switch one more time. However, during a real fire,
only the specific engine with the fire would light up. Assuming we have a fire in the right
engine and it lights up along with an alarm, the pilots will pull this switch up first. What
this does is that it isolates this engine from the rest of the aircraft but physically
disconnects the engine generators, the fuel lines as well as the bleed air ducts connecting
it to the onboard air conditioning system - more info on that in the first episode of this
series. After pulling the switch up, pilots would then be able to twist this switch to the left
or right to discharge the content of the fire extinguisher bottles located in the specific
engine in an attempt to extinguish the fire. When twisted to the left as we have done, it
lights up this light over here to signify which extinguisher bottle has been used and this
green light is an additional visual cue for the pilots to see that the right engine’s fire has
been extinguished. Note that firstly, these buttons can only be pulled backwards when the
automatic fire detection loops in the aircraft actually detect a fire. This is to prevent the
pilots from accidentally pulling these switches and disconnecting the entire engine from
the aircraft. However, in an event that the on-board fire detection loops have experienced
a fault or failure, there is a little button on the underside of each of these switches to
manually override this function and for the pilots to be able to pull these switches back
and extinguish the fire. Given enough time, you will see that the entire right side of the
cockpit completely loses all power, as the main power generation source for the right
side, namely the right engine has been disconnected from the aircraft, as mentioned
before. If you’re wondering, this APU fire extinguisher light is not clickable, though the
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alarm and indicators as you saw before, are indeed simulated. Finally, this test light over
here, simply allows the pilots to test whether the extinguisher indicator lights are working
as intended.
Central Pedestal
Alright ladies and gentleman, that finally brings us to the central pedestal of the aircraft,
which as mentioned before, houses some of the important radio voice and navigation
systems in the aircraft. As we did with the forward overhead panel in the first episode of
this series, we will be covering this panel in a top down fashion from left to right.
However, as you might have noticed, some of the systems on the left side - namely the
captain’s side of this central pedestal are identical to that of the first officer’s side on the
right side, with a few key differences. So then, let’s get into it!
Communication Radio Tuning Panel
So starting off, on the top
left here, we have the
radio tuning panel where
pilots can tune in the
pre-specified radio
frequencies to be able to
talk to air traffic control
or even to other aircraft.
The two most obvious
features on this panel are
these two displays, which
show the specific
frequency that has been
selected by the pilots.
This left display here shows the active frequency that has been currently tuned and is
being used for voice communication. The one on the right shows the standby frequency,
where pilots can tune in a radio frequency that they wish to quickly switch to. This
normally occurs when air traffic control asks the pilots to switch from their frequency to
another. For example, say the ground controller gives the pilots a frequency to switch to
and asks them to contact the tower controller. The pilots would then put the tower
controller’s frequency in this standby display and press this little transfer button, which
swaps the frequencies on the two displays, making the previously standby frequency the
active one and vice versa. Now as you saw me doing just now, this knob over here can be
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used to change the standby frequency. Use this larger knob over here to change the
numbers before the decimal point and this smaller knob to change the numbers after the
decimal point. This panel off switch here, when pressed, would normally turn off these
displays, however, its not simulated in the zibo mod 737. Next up, down here we have
some radio selection switches, however, only these two VHF 1 and VHF 2 switches are
currently simulated in the zibo 737. The basic premise behind these buttons is that there
are multiple different radio systems in the aircraft that can all be independently used by
the pilots. Notice how the numbers change in the display when I switch between VHF 1
and VHF 2. Now in this particular configuration of the aircraft, there are 2 of these radio
navigation panels, one on the captain’s side which is normally set to VHF 1 and one on
the first officers’ side which is normally set to VHF 2. The reason for having multiple
radio systems is simply redundancy and back up. Now notice what happens if I select
VHF 2 on the captain’s side - which as just mentioned is normally used by the first
officer. Adjusting the frequencies on the captain's side automatically changes the
frequencies on the first officer’s side as well, as the same radio system is being used by
both pilots. Additionally, in the real aircraft, a little light up here also lights up to alert
pilots that they are using the same radio system instead of the two individual ones for
each of them, however, this light isn’t simulated in the Zibo mod. Coming down here, we
have a knob which allows pilots to adjust the sensitivity of the high frequency or HF
radios. This panel is indeed movable, but doesn’t really do anything as the HF frequency
buttons themselves are inoperative in the zibo 737.
Navigation Radio Tuning Panel
Coming underneath, we have
the navigational radio tuning
panel, which is similar to the
communication radio tuning
panel, but instead allows pilots
to tune in the navigational
frequencies of certain VOR
stations and other nav beacons
on the ground to fly complex
visual approaches as well as to
use the ILS or instrument
landing system to align both
horizontally and vertically
with a runway for landing. Now, if you don’t know what an ILS approach is or what
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VOR means, I’m planning to cover all of these terms in another series, where we take an
indepth look at how to fly different approaches and land in extremely difficult airports
such as innsbruck in Austria or Faro in Portugal. However, for now, a simple explanation
will suffice. Just like the communication radio panels, there are 2 navigation radio
systems in the aircraft - one on the captain’s side and the other on the first officer’s side.
You can again use the larger knob to adjust the numbers before the decimal place and the
smaller knob to adjust the numbers after the decimal place in the standby display.
Additionally, you may press this transfer button to swap the standby and active
frequencies. Just another note, if you are wondering where to find these navigational
frequencies that we’re talking about, they are normally published on aerodrome approach
charts that all pilots have access to. For example, this here is the ILS approach frequency
for runway 28R at San Francisco. Pilots would normally tune this frequency into this
panel before landing, along with the specific course of this runway on the MCP panel
which we will take a look at in the next video- to be able to perform an ILS landing on
runway 28R in San Francisco. Don’t worry, if it sounds complicated now, it won’t be so
hard when we actually fly this aircraft from point A to B and you’ll see exactly what I
mean when you see it for yourself. This test button simply allows the pilots to see if the
VOR and ILS indicators are working properly on the navigational display or ND in the
aircraft, however, this button is also not simulated in the Zibo 737.
ADF Panel
Coming underneath, we have
the ADF panel, which stands
for the automatic direction
finder. Now again, I must
reiterate that my knowledge
about navigational radio
systems in the aircraft is quite
limited, but from my
research, the automatic
direction finder uses multiple
different radio beacons on the
ground that emit morse code
identifiers to find certain navigational information such as approach courses, bearings and
headings. So, on this panel again, we have these two knobs to adjust the standby
frequency as well as this transfer switch to swap the two frequencies. Now we also have
these other two knobs here. This mode selector switch here allows pilots to switch
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between the ADF mode and the ANT mode. Normally, this switch is left to the ADF
position, where the ADF system will send the navigational bearing to the navigational
display in the aircraft. Switching this to the ANT mode provides better audio reception,
however most of the research and documentation online suggests that you won’t get any
bearing information on the nav display as you would if you leave this switch to the ADF
position. This other switch here simply switches the ADF system display on and off, as
you can see on screen here.
Audio Control Panel
Coming down to the last main panel on this side, we have the
audio control panel, which is identical to the one we explored in
detail in the aft overhead panel just previously in this episode,
so rewind the video to this point if you need another refresher.
Again, like all of the above mentioned navigation radios, there
are 2 of these systems- one on the captain’s side and the other
on the first officer’s side.
Cargo Fire Control Panel
And that brings us to this central
column on the center pedestal,
where this first panel is the cargo
fire control panel. Unfortunately,
none of these switches on this
panel, apart from this little test
switch are simulated in the zibo
737l, but let me just give you
guys a brief overview of what
each system does anyway. The
primary function of this panel is
to identify and when needed,
extinguish any fires in the cargo compartments of the plane. Pressing this test button over
here lights up the fire extinguisher test lights, the forward and aft cargo extinguisher
bottle arm lights as well as the extinguisher bottle discharge lights as you can see here.
These two switches in the middle, just like the engine and APU fire detection systems
allows the pilots to choose between fire detection loop A or B to detect a fire in the
forward and aft cargo holds of the aircraft.
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Weather Radar Control Panel
Coming further below, we
have the weather radar
control panel in the aircraft.
Note that this entire panel is
not simulated within this
aircraft, including all of
these buttons and any
indicator lights or switches.
Hence, I don’t feel that we
should waste any time in
delving into this panel, as
you will never need to use
this panel when operating
the Zibo mod 737 aircraft.
When Zibo does add functionality to this panel, I’ll be sure to come back to this panel
and make another video highlighting the weather radar systems in the aircraft in detail.
That being said however, I will leave links to websites and other documentation down in
the description if you wish to know more about the weather radar system within the
737-800. Additionally, I must also mention that though these specific weather radar
settings cannot be adjusted in the aircraft, the zibo 737 does still have a fully fledged
weather radar system that provides both weather as well as turbulence related data on the
main navigational display of the aircraft when selected on the main panels in front of the
pilots in the flight deck. As mentioned before, we will be exploring these panels in the
next episode in the series.
Transponder Panel
Coming underneath, we have the transponder panel. Now before we delve into the
switches and knobs on this panel, let's first understand what a transponder is. A
transponder is another radio device that sits in the aircraft which is responsible for
sending different important aircraft parameters such as the aircraft’s altitude, speed and
direction at any given time during flight to both air traffic control as well as other nearby
aircraft. Most modern airliners today are fitted with a type of transponder called a Mode
S or Mode Sierra transponder, which allow these sophisticated systems to automatically
send this data to air traffic control as well as to prevent mid air collisions between
aircrafts using various traffic advisory and anti-collision alarms and indicators present
within these systems. We will explore this further when we get to their associated
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switches. Additionally, before every flight when the pilots obtain clearance from air
traffic control, they are normally assigned a unique 4 digit Squawk code, which, when
tuned into this display, allows air traffic control to identify the aircrafts callsign, its
speed, altitude and other aircraft parameters mentioned before. So, let's take a look at
these switches now to understand what each of them do on this aircraft. This knob over
here is the TCAS system which stands for the Traffic Collision Avoidance System, which
sounds audible alarms in the cockpit when the transponders of two aircraft detect that
they are getting too close to each other, thereby breaching safety regulations. The knob
itself allows pilots to switch between the different modes offered by the transponder.
When switched to standby, the transponder system is running but not actively sending out
any information to air traffic control or any other aircraft in the vicinity. Switching this
knob to the test position starts an audible testing system within the transponder with some
visual cues on the ND or navigation display like so… Switching the knob to ​altitude off
sends positional data to the air traffic control to show where the aircraft is on their radar
displays, but doesn’t display the aircraft’s altitude. This is especially useful at busy
airports, where pilots will be instructed to switch on their transponders but set the altitude
off, as it's understood then that they are on the ground but the air traffic control will be
able to monitor their position on the ground with respect to other aircraft. Switching the
knob to ​altitude on​ to send positional as well as altitude data to ATC. Finally, this TA
mode stands for traffic advisory, which will sound an automated voice in the cockpit
whenever the aircraft gets close to another aircraft. The voice will typically say “traffic
traffic” when the aircrafts are very close to each other and “clear of conflict” when the
aircrafts have moved far enough away from each other. Finally, this TA/RA mode stands
for Traffic Advisory and Resolution Advisory, wherein the transponder and TCAS
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system will do all of the aforementioned things such as send positional as well as
altitudinal data to ATC as well as alert the pilots with an automated voice when an
aircraft gets close but will also do one more thing. If the two aircrafts approaching one
another both have mode sierra transponders, then both of these transponder systems will
synchronize and provide a resolution advisory to both aircraft to prevent a collision. For
example, if two aircraft are headed towards each other and are approximately a minute
away from collision, the transponder systems on both aircraft will synchronize and sound
and automated voice in one aircraft telling it to “climb climb” and the other aircraft to
“descend descend”. The pilots will then take over manual control and either enter a steep
climb or descent to avoid the chance of a collision between the two aircraft. Hence, the
transponder is always switched to TA/RA mode before takeoff and only switched off
when the aircraft has safely landed at the arrival airport. This switch over here is to
switch between the two transponder systems in the aircraft - 1 and 2 which is not
simulated in the zibo 737. Coming to the middle here, we have these two knobs which
allow the pilots to enter in the special 4 digit code mentioned before into the transponder
system. This outer knob on the left adjusts the thousandths place, the smaller knob on the
left adjusts the hundredths place, this larger knob on the right adjusts the ones place and
this smaller knob on the right adjusts the tenths place. Finally this button in the middle is
the identification button which is only pressed when the air traffic controllers’s screens
are cluttered with aircraft and they wish to see who is speaking to them on the radios to
direct them properly. In such a scenario air traffic controllers would instruct the pilots to
squawk ident, and when the pilots push this button, the little blip on the ATC’s radar
screens will flash for a few seconds, allowing them to locate the aircraft with respect to
the plethora of other aircraft on their screens.
Lights, Trim and Doors
Finally, on the bottom here is a strip of knobs and switches which adjust the lighting on
the central pedestal, some trim control systems as well as a flight deck door locking
mechanism switch. Starting from the very left, this first knob controls the flood lights that
illuminate from just
behind the forward
overhead panel
onto the central
pedestal. This next
knob here simply
adjusts the
backlighting of the
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various switches, knobs and displays on the center
pedestal specifically. Coming to the right, we have
some more trim systems, which help adjust aileron and
rudder trim systems in the aircraft. Now just like the
pitch trim system we explored earlier, these trim
systems control the roll and yaw characteristics of the
aircraft but are normally left in their normal 0 position,
wherein the controls are neither veering to the left or to
the right and are perfectly straight. However, in the
case of an emergency such as an engine failure,
asymmetrical thrust gets produced as the working
engine slowly turns the aircraft in the other direction.
In such a case, pilots can align the rudder and ailerons
to constantly be facing in a particular direction to zero
this rolling and yawing motion out and for the aircraft
to fly straight as planned. This stabilizer trim switch is again related to the pitch trim
system but it's not simulated in the zibo 737. Finally, this button on the right manages the
locking mechanism of the flight deck door. Leaving it to auto allows the automatic
systems in the aircraft to manage the locking mechanism. Flicking the switch to unlocked
obviously unlocks the door for just a few seconds, kind of like an electronic magnetic
door. Finally, flicking the switch to ​deny ​obviously denies access to the flight deck.
Conclusion
So that ladies and gentleman brings us to the end of this episode of Aircrafts dissected. If
you’ve stuck around so far, congratulations, you now have a sound understanding of
important navigational systems in the aircraft such as the IRS or inertial reference
systems as well as the different means by which aircrafts can communicate with air
traffic control. Additionally, you have also learnt how to operate the main thrust levers,
speedbrakes, flaps and some other aerodynamic controls within the aircraft and the
different phases of flight they are used in. Now I must also mention that all of the
documentation and websites I used to research for this video are linked down below in
the description, including a written text version of this entire video, if you prefer to read
those and understand more about this aircraft. That being said, the next episode in this
series will focus on the central panels right in front of the pilots, which includes the
primary flight display, the navigation display as well as some knobs and switches relating
to the autopilot systems within the aircraft. If you guys enjoyed the video, make sure to
flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s any questions you’d like me to
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answer for you. Make sure to perform a full stop-landing at the like button and the
subscribe button if you enjoyed the content and press the bell icon for future notifications
from this channel and usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 3: PRIMARY FLIGHT DISPLAY (PFD)
& EFIS PANEL
Read the manual alongside the video​: ​EPISODE 3
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the third episode in my
aircrafts dissected series, where we delve into every switch, knob and display in the
cockpit of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In the first video of the series, we covered the
forward overhead panels and in the episode just prior to this one, we covered the aft
overhead panel, the central pedestal as well as the main throttle quadrant in the flight
deck, so go check those episodes out first if you haven’t seen them already. In this
episode, we’re going to be taking a look at the main displays and switches that are
located right in front of the pilots during normal operations - specifically, this Outboard
Display Unit with the PFD or primary flight display as well as this top row of switches on
the EFIS panel. Lastly, here is the list of things pointed out to me which were partially
incorrect explanations that I made in the previous video. You can pause the video and
take a look at those if you are interested. So, without further adieu, let’s jump into the
flight deck and start our exploration of the forward panels!
Forward Panels Introduction
Alright ladies and gentleman, welcome back to the flightdeck of the Boeing 737-800. So,
as stated, in this video, we’re going to be looking at a few buttons on this EFIS panel as
well as the primary flight display over here. Now one final thing I would like to tell you
before getting started is that the Zibo mod 737 doesn’t have pop up displays. The reason
I’m saying this is because, unlike the other panels we have looked at so far, all of the
changes on this display take place when certain buttons and knobs are manipulated on
these panels. So it might be a little hard to show me turning a knob here and it’s
corresponding effect on this display here in perfect sync. That being said, I will use the
red borders as I have been doing up to this point to make my points as clear as possible.
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Outboard Display Unit
So to start off, let’s take a look at
this panel here which is called the
Outboard display unit. Now I’ve
heard many people confusing this
panel for the primary flight display
or PFD but that is actually
incorrect, as this panel itself is
called the outboard display unit and
what is normally displayed inside
this panel is what is called the
Primary Flight display. Why am I
mentioning this? You’ll come to
find out later in the series, as we
cover a few buttons located in front
of the pilots - so stay tuned for that.
Anyway, the primary flight display
is responsible for showing all of the
critical flight information to the
pilots such as the airspeed, altitude,
attitude as well as different
autopilot modes enunciated on a few panels here. There are two of these panels on either
side for the captain and first officer respectively. Now, it's important to mention that this
display often changes slightly depending on the phase of flight. For example, during
takeoff, the takeoff speeds would be indicated on the speed tape over here, whereas
during landing, different autopilot modes will be shown on these parts of the PFD.
However, for this video, we will specifically be taking a look at the PFD when the
aircraft is travelling from san francisco to new york and climbing to its cruising altitude
at 33000 feet or Flight Level 330. In doing so, I will be able to show many different
autopilot modes on this MCP panel and how they affect the PFD. However, when we do
a full flight with the Zibo from point A to point B, you will see all the different elements
of the PFD. So, let’s get started and see what sort of information we have here.
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Primary Flight Display (Flight mode Annunciator)
Starting off at the top, we have the
flight mode annunciator, which
displays three important autopilot
modes in these three distinct
columns. These modes all change
throughout the flight depending on
the phase of flight, and we will see
some of these changes when we
manipulate certain knobs and buttons
on this MCP panel. Starting off, the
first column represents the
autothrottle system, which tells pilots
the specific mode that the
autothrottle system is working in.
Remember from episode 2 that the
autothrottle system is part of the
greater flight management system in
the aircraft which, along with the
overall autopilot system, manages
the aircraft’s speed, altitude as well as vertical speed. It currently reads N1 which is an
autothrottle mode that manages the speed of the aircraft by controlling the rotational
speed of the engine blades. More on that later. Coming to the right, this column
represents the roll mode of the aircraft which controls the directional characteristics of
the aircraft during flight. Currently, it reads LNAV, which stands for Lateral Navigation.
This is another autopilot mode wherein the autopilot systems are automatically flying the
aircraft on the specified route programmed into this FMC or Flight management
computer before takeoff. Finally, this column over here represents the pitch mode of the
aircraft, which controls things such as the rate at which the aircraft climbs or descends
and other such indications. It currently reads VNAV spd which stands for vertical
navigation speed, allowing the aircraft to maintain a specific speed during cruise or when
climbing or descending.
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Speed Tape
Coming over to the left here, we
have the ​speed tape​ indicator which
as you probably guessed, displays
the indicated airspeed of the aircraft
in knots right in the middle.
However, it also houses some other
important information. Right on top,
this pink indicator is the selected
airspeed that the autopilot and
autothrottle systems in the aircraft
are constantly trying to achieve.
This speed is normally governed by
the Flight management computers
based on different speed and
altitude constraints along the
specified route but can also be
configured manually on the MCP
panel here depending on the phase of flight, you’ll see what we mean when we take a
look at it in the episode covering the MCP panel specifically. Additionally, this little pink
bug represents this very same selected speed visually on the tape, just as an added bonus.
Finally, down here, this is the same indicated airspeed, but in a mach number instead of
knots. For those of you who don’t know, Mach number represents the ratio by which the
speed of a moving object may be compared to the speed of sound. The speed of sound
has a mach number of 1, so this number is essentially the speed of the aircraft as a
percentage of the speed of sound. Additionally, this display only becomes active once the
aircraft gets to mach 0.4.
Attitude Indicator
Coming to the middle of course, we have the attitude indicator, which displays an
artificial horizon along with a bank angle indicator at the top, thereby allowing pilots to
see if the aircraft is pitching or rolling to either side during poor visibility conditions such
as dense fog. So, the artificial horizon, as you can see, has this blue portion which
represents the sky and this brown portion which represents the ground. This middle
portion represents the horizon. These lines over here indicate 2.5 degree pitch increments
by which the aircraft is either pointed up, down or is level with the horizon. In the
middle of the attitude indicator, we have this wing and fuselage indicator which
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represents the position of the
wings and this little white square
in the middle represents the nose
of the aircraft to be able to see
its current pitch. Also in the
middle, we have these pink
crosshairs, which are the flight
director bars. These bars are
activated on the mode control
panel and are required to be on
for the autopilot systems to
work, as they visually show the
aircraft’s desired pitch and roll
axis at any time. At the very to p
left, we have this scale ID
annunciator, which currently
reads LNAV/VNAV, thereby
implying that these autopilot
modes are currently active and
are flying the plane. The specific
scale ID selected on this
annunciator also controls these scales on the
bottom and right of the artificial horizon which show how well the aircraft is flying
when compared to its programmed route.
Note that this scale ID annunciator will also
change depending on the phase of flight. For
example, during an ILS landing, you will see
the localizer and glideslope indiciations here
instead and will see the two diamonds on the
bottom and right of the artificial horizon
allowing pilots to land the aircraft. In the top
middle here, this is known as the Autopilot
status indicator, which is the main indicator
on this display to see if the autopilot is in
control of the aircraft or not. When
displaying CMD, it means that the autopilot
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systems in the aircraft are in command of all of the flight characteristics of the aircraft.
Finally, at the bottom of this display is a warning section, which only comes on when
there is a serious imminent threat or danger to the aircraft. Normally, you’ll either see a
Windshear alert or a pull up command if you are getting too close to the ground or nearby
terrain. Take a look for yourself and pray this never happens to you.
Altitude Tape
Finally, moving to the right side of this
display, we have the main altitude tape,
which, you guessed it, represents the
altitude of the aircraft. Just like the speed
tape on the left, this indication over here
represents the current altitude of the
aircraft, whereas this pink altitude on top
represents the selected altitude that the
autopilot systems in the aircraft are trying
to achieve and can be governed either by
the FMS or by the pilots on the MCP. On
the right of this altitude display, we have a
vertical speed display which simply
displays the rate at which the aircraft is
climbing or descending in feet per minute
as you can see here. Finally, underneath
here, we have the barometric pressure setting that the pilots have selected. We will come
to this in a second when we look at the various buttons on the EFIS panel.
Partial Heading Indicator View and Segway
to EFIS
Finally, coming to the very bottom, we have a partial
view of the heading indicator, where this white
triangular arrow represents the heading that the aircraft
is currently facing and this pink bug over here represents
the selected heading on either the FMS or selected by
the pilots on the MCP. This number over here is the
actual numerical heading of the aircraft and this Mag
indicator over here means that the aircraft is currently
flying relative to magnetic north. Note that this setting
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can be changed to follow True north instead if that is required, and we’ll take a look at
how to do that in future episodes of this series.
Okay, and that ladies and gentleman covers the primary flight display’s main
components. Next up, we’re going to be looking at this EFIS panel, which houses some
important buttons that change some of the indicators and displays on this PFD. These
include everything from the barometric pressure setting we just spoke as well as some
other helpful assets for the pilots during non-normal conditions.
EFIS (Minimums Selector)
Okay, so coming to this part of the flight deck, as mentioned before, we have the EFIS
panel, which stands for the electronic flight information system. Just like the PFD, there
are 2 on each side, allowing both the captain as well as the first officer to adjust their own
screens as per their own liking. Now we will only be covering these two knobs and these
two buttons in this video, as these are the only ones that directly affect the primary flight
display. The rest of these switches below all affect the navigation display or ND, which
we will be taking a look at in the next video of this series. So, starting from this knob on
the left here, this is the minimums selector knob, which allows pilots to select the
minimum decision height for approach and landing. The premise behind this is that
during normal weather conditions, pilots normally have the runway in sight anywhere
between 5 and 15 nautical miles away. However, during extreme weather conditions such
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as very low cloud ceilings or
dense fog, this aircraft has an
autoland feature, which
allows the aircraft to
automatically land without
any input from the pilots.
However, even during these
landings, it is imperative to
have the runway in sight after
descending to a specified
altitude, as any problems with
the alignment of the aircraft
using the autoland feature
needs to be cross-checked by the pilots visually and enough time needs to be given to
them to perform a go-around. More information about that in the previous episode of this
series. Hence, during the approach phase of the flight, pilots would normally dial in the
specific radio or barometric decision height into this panel. Therefore, when the aircraft
descends past this altitude, it sounds an automated voice in the cockpit enunciating
“Minimums” where the pilots can then decide if they are “landing” or performing a “go
around” - hence the minimums point in a landing is extremely critical. The larger knob on
this selector allows you to select between the radio altimeter height or a barometric
altimeter height. To keep it simple, the radio altimeter height is simply the height of the
aircraft over the specific terrain it is flying over and is therefore much more useful at
lower altitudes. The barometric altimeter height is the altitude of the aircraft above mean
sea level. The smaller knob on this selector simply allows you to scroll and set the
specific height settings for both the radio and barometric modes. This middle reset button
simply resets the specific minimums mode setting back to 0. Also, if you’re wondering
how to find these published altitudes or heights, they are again seen on runway charts that
all pilots have access to. We will be taking a closer look at these charts when planning for
arrival at our destination airport in the Zibo 737 full flight video in this series coming out
shortly.
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EFIS (FPV and Meters)
Moving over to the right, this FPV switch stands for flight path vector, which creates this
little visual indicator
on top of the
artificial horizon in
the PFD to show if
the aircraft is drifting
from its specified
course in any way.
This other button
right next to the FPV
is the meters button, which allows the pilots to view their altitude on the PFD in feet as
well as meters. This is primarily because some airports in the world offer clearances and
other altitude constraints in meters instead of feet so pilots could use this button to
cross-check their values.
EFIS (Altimeter)
Finally, we come to this
barometric pressure selection
knob, which adjusts this part
of the PFD we briefly spoke
about earlier. Now before we
jump into what this knob
does, let’s first understand
what barometric pressure is
and more specifically what
an altimeter setting is. In
simple terms, the pressure
altimeter in the aircraft
simply indicates the specific
elevation of the aircraft above a specified defined point. This defined point is an altimeter
subscale, kind of like a reference point for the barometers. When at a mean sea level of 0,
the atmospheric pressure anywhere in the world will be 1013mba or hpa, which is the SI
unit for barometric pressure. This can also be measured in inches of mercury and the
equivalent to 1013 hpa would be 2992 inches of mercury. You would often use this
measurement over the standard SI unit when flying in North America. Hence, depending
on the field elevation and weather conditions such as temperature at the local airport, this
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pressure changes, and air traffic control will often update this so that aircrafts near the
vicinity of the airport have the most accurate altitude readouts then can get. However,
once the aircrafts leave the vicinity of the local airport vertically, meaning that they climb
up to a certain altitude, then can then switch this altimeter setting back to the standard
subscale pressure which, as mentioned before is 1013Hpa or 2992inches of mercury. This
is to then put them in sync with other aircrafts flying around at high altitudes. This
specific altitude that aircrafts must reach before switching to local barometric pressure
when arriving at the airport and switching to standard barometric pressure when
departing from the airport is called the transition altitude. Any altitude above this
transition altitude is referred to as a flight level, whereas any altitude below this transition
altitude is referred to in feet. For example, throughout the US, the transition altitude is
18000 feet. So if an aircraft is instructed by ATC to climb to this point on screen, they
would say it as ‘climb to 16000 feet’. However, if the aircraft is told to climb to this
altitude on screen, they would be told to climb to Flight level 330 - implying that it is
33000 feet above mean sea level. So, coming back to this selector, this larger knob allows
you to switch between displaying the pressure in Hpa or inches of mercury, whereas this
smaller selector allows you to select. This middle std button allows you to switch
between the local and standard barometric pressure when passing the transition altitude.
All of these changes are reflected on the primary flight display, as was the case with the
minimums selector. Once again, I will be leaving comprehensive documentation down in
the description if you guys want more information about these systems.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentleman, that brings us to the end of this aircrafts dissected episode
covering the Primary Flight Display and the top of the EFIS panel. Now if you guys are
wondering why this episode was so short, you guys in the community have been giving
me some amazing feedback, but the general highlights have been that I need to talk a tad
bit slower and you guys appreciate shorter videos. So, in order to maintain the same level
of quality that you guys have come to expect, while also talking slower and keeping the
video length short, the only way for me to achieve all of those things is to divide these
videos into bite-sized bits. Let me know in the comments section if this sort of length is
okay for you or if you would like me to tweak anything else about the commentary. That
being said, the next episode in the series will focus on the navigation display or ND as
well as the rest of the buttons on the EFIS panel, as mentioned before. If you guys
enjoyed the video, make sure to flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s
any questions you’d like me to answer for you. Make sure to perform a full stop-landing
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at the like button and the subscribe button if you enjoyed the content and press the bell
icon for future notifications from this channel and usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 4: NAVIGATION DISPLAY (ND) & EFIS
PANEL
Read the manual alongside the video​: ​EPISODE 4
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome back to another video in my
aircraft’s dissected series, where we delve into every switch, knob and display in the
cockpit of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In the previous video, we covered the main
outboard display unit that houses the primary flight display along with these top row of
buttons and knobs on the EFIS panel - so go check that out if you haven’t already done
so. In this video, we’re going to be taking a look at this inboard display unit, which
normally houses the navigation display or ND. Additionally, we’ll also be taking a look
at this bottom row of knobs and buttons on this EFIS panel. Finally, as per usual, this is
the list of things I failed to explain properly in the previous video, so you can pause the
video and take a look at it if you so please.​ S
​ o without further adieu, let’s jump into the
flight deck!
Nav Display (Intro)
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight
deck of the Boeing 737-800 and as mentioned before, in
this video, we’re going to be taking a look at the different
indications in this navigation display or ND inside this
inboard display unit- which sits right beside this outboard
display unit over here. The navigation display is extremely
important, as it displays critical information such as the
aircraft’s programmed route, its current heading, its
ground speed as well as information regarding the
performance of the aircraft mid flight. So let’s jump into it
and start exploring this display.
Ground Speed, True Air Speed (TAS) and Wind
Alright, so as usual, starting at the top left here, we have a few speed indications. This
indication over here represents the ground speed of the aircraft, which is especially
important when you are taxiing on the ground and wish to know your taxi speed, as this
airspeed indicator isn’t active at low speeds. Over to the right of this Ground speed
indicator, we have the True air speed indicator. Note that this number is different and
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usually always higher than the
indicated air speed displayed on the
primary flight display. To understand
why, you need to understand that the
speed of the aircraft is measured using
these pitot tubes on the outside of the
aircraft, which measure the amount of
air molecules entering them per second
to determine the speed of the aircraft.
So, the indicated airspeed decreases at
higher altitudes because as altitude
increases, atmospheric pressure
decreases and hence, a lesser number
of air molecules interact with the pitot
tubes, thereby providing a lower speed
value. However, this true air speed
indicator accounts for this difference
in pressure and altitude and therefore
provides a more accurate indication of the speed of the aircraft while travelling through
the air. Underneath these speed readouts is a wind readout. The first number here displays
the direction that the wind is hitting the aircraft from and this number after the backslash
represents the speed of the wind in knots. Underneath here is also a visual representation
of the direction of the wind using this arrow.
Waypoint Identifier
Moving to the very right here, we have some
information relating to the waypoints that the
aircraft travels through on its route. So, before
we take a look at these indicators, let’s first
understand what waypoints are and how they
work. Just like the complex road networks we
have on the ground, the air is also littered with
complex invisible air networks known as
airways. Each airway leads to a certain
direction and has multiple waypoints along it.
Think of these waypoints as train stations on a
track - with the track itself being the airways.
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So if an aircraft wishes to get from point A to point B, it will often take an airway and
keep hitting different waypoints on this airway until it wishes to change its direction.
When this point occurs, the aircraft will switch to a different airway and turn in another
direction to intercept the different waypoints on this new airway. Think of this as a train
changing tracks on a railway line when it wishes to get to new train stations. So, coming
to these indicators now, at the top we have the name of the next waypoint on the aircraft’s
route. These names are mostly unique around the world and you will see different themes
being represented as you travel around the world. Underneath the name, we have the
estimated time of arrival at that waypoint in Zulu time - which is a universally accepted
time for aviation around the world. Underneath this, we have the distance to the waypoint
in nautical miles. As you hop from waypoint to waypoint on your route, you will see this
indication changing to highlight information regarding the next waypoint at all times.
Direction Indicator
Coming to the center here, we have
some information regarding the
direction the aircraft is currently flying
in. This TRK symbol on the left here
means that the aircraft is operating in
track mode. You will also see HDG
instead of TRK here, which implies
that the aircraft is flying in heading
mode instead. The difference between
these two modes is that this track mode
takes into account the wind direction
and speed we discussed earlier and
flies a particular direction over the
ground to mitigate the effects of high
altitude winds. The heading mode
quite simply, does not. Moving to the
center, we have a numerical value to
show the direction of the aircraft on a 360 degree cardinal plane. The final indication to
the right here, just like the previous episode, shows if the aircraft is flying relative to
magnetic north or true north. Coming underneath to these three indicators, we have this
pink heading bug, which represents the specific heading selected on the MCP panel in
front of the pilots. On the right of the bug, we have this white triangle, which represents
the true heading of the aircraft and displays the direction the nose is currently pointing.
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Compass Arc
Alright so coming further
underneath, we have this compass
arc where this white line running
straight down the middle represents
the track of the aircraft. Now as you
may have noticed, though the nose of
the aircraft is pointing in this
direction, the aircraft’s track is still
showing that we are travelling
straight. This is again because of the
wind drift, as the nose needs to point
in that direction for the wind to push
the aircraft towards a straight
trajectory. Don’t worry you’ll
understand this much better when we
complete a flight from point A to B.
Moving down this white line, we
have these distance markers, where
in the centre of the display is a
numerical readout of the distance in nautical miles. These other non-numbered hatch
marks simply represent half values, so since this is 40 nautical miles, this would therefore
be 20 nautical miles, this would be 60 nautical miles and naturally, the end of this
compass arc represents 80 nautical miles in front of the aircraft. Additionally, on this
compass arc, we also have these pink stars, which are visual representations of the
waypoints we just spoke about. Furthermore, this pink line represents the direction that
the aircraft must travel to reach the next waypoint. As you can see, currently, this white
line and the pink line are overlapping, meaning that we are perfectly on track to hitting
this waypoint at this specific time. Coming further below, we have this white triangle,
which represents the actual aircraft itself - nothing more to say there.
Green Indications
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Underneath this white triangle, we have some more indications in green here. Starting off
with this FMC L indication, this simply means that the navigation display is getting its
data from the left flight management computer which is normally programmed by the
captain. In an event that there is a failure with the left FMC, pilots also have the option to
switch the data source to the right FMC and then this display here would simply say FMC
R. To the right of this are two very important indications that measure the accuracy of the
aircraft’s flight path and trajectory. So, just a brief summary before we get into these
indications themselves. The airways we spoke about previously often have certain safety
corridors or margins that the aircraft must stay between at all times. This is to prevent the
aircraft from accidentally entering another airway and encountering traffic or other
catastrophic incidents. On the other hand, the aircraft itself, though extremely state of the
art and modern, simply cannot operate navigationally with 100% accuracy. Hence, this
RNP stands for required navigation performance and shows the maximum amount by
which the aircraft can deviate from a 100% accurate trajectory. This is measured in
nautical miles, so in this case, the required navigation performance is represented by this
number, thereby implying that the aircraft can deviate by these many nautical miles
before breaching safety regulations. This ANP therefore stands for actual navigation
performance and must always be lesser than the required navigation performance to meet
safety standards. I must say however, that you should normally not have a problem with
this on point to point operations as on most flights, the navigation systems can use
various VOR stations, NDBs and a combination of GPS satellites to reduce the
inaccuracy of its trajectory. Just thought you guys should know it in theory and hence
why I put it in the video.
EFIS Introduction
So ladies and gentleman, now that we’ve had
a brief overview of the different indications
on the navigation display, we can now check
out these bottom row of buttons and knobs
on this EFIS panel and see their effects on
the ND. So to start off with, we have these
two VOR and ADF needles on either side.
So in order to understand this better, we
need to first tune in a VOR frequency and
then show its effects on this ND. So I’ll go do that now.
VOR and ADF radios
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Alright, so here I have tuned in the VOR frequency for an unspecified runway approach
at Watsonville Municipal airport. So, when this needle is switched to this VOR position,
you see this green line that appears on the ND which represents the radials passing
through the specific VOR station selected. Note that this green line only appears when
the range on the ND is set to at least 20 nautical miles, we will look at this knob in a
second. You can move this line by manipulating this course selector knob on the MCP,
but we will be taking a detailed look at this when we get to it in the dedicated video
regarding the MCP panel. Additionally, you will also see this green bearing pointer
which points directly towards the VOR station that has been selected - in this case, the
Watsonville municipal VOR. Finally, at the bottom, you also see the name of the VOR
station selected, in this case - SNS or Sierra November Sierra in the aviation phonetic
alphabet - as well as this DME which stands for distance measuring equipment- which
shows the distance of the VOR station from the aircraft. If the frequency and course are
selected on both the nav radios as well as both the course selectors, then you will see this
same indication on both sides when both these switches are flicked to the VOR position.
That’s a lot of ‘both’ for one sentence. Alright, flicking this switch all the way down
activates the ADF mode if you are using an ADF station for navigation instead of a VOR.
It displays basically the same indications as the VOR mode but in blue instead of green so you have this blue heading indicator, these blue indications for ADF 1 and 2 and so
on. Now as I mentioned in episode 2 of this series, if you don’t understand what VOR
means or what an ADF station is, I am planning to cover all of these topics in detail once
I have finished my series on the Zibo 737. So stay tuned for that.
Nav Display Mode Selector Knob
So next up, we have this nav
display mode selector knob,
which allows you to change the
mode the nav display is operating
in to see different approach
indicators and such on the display.
Starting off, we have this
approach mode, which when
selected, displays the runway’s
localizer as this pink bar right in
front. On the right side of this
display, you will also see this
pink, hollow diamond, which represents the glideslope indicator. We will be doing an
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ILS landing when we do a full point A to B flight using the Zibo, so I will explain how
the localizer and glideslope indications work when we get to that point. Also, on the top
right, you see information about the ILS approach that has been tuned into the navigation
radios. You see the name of the approach, the approach course as well as the DME or
distance to the ILS beacon on the ground. Flicking this same knob to the VOR position is
practically identical to the approach mode except for the lack of the glideslope indicator
on the right side. You will again see information regarding the name, the approach course
as well as the distance to the VOR station tuned into the nav radios on the top right of the
nav display. Turning the knob to the map view brings us to the main map screen we had
been looking at during the first part of the video, highlighting different waypoints on the
route, wind information as well as RNP and ANP indications at the bottom. Finally,
turning the knob to this plan mode switches the ND from being a front-view compass arc
to a proper compass with the 4 North, South, East and West cardinal directions. Now this
mode is normally used in conjunction with this FMC and basically allows pilots to step
through every single waypoint on their route to see if there are any discrepancies or
anomalies. We will speak more about this mode during the FMC programming video
when we do the Zibo full flight video, so stay tuned for that. Lastly, pressing this CTR
button once again will provide you with a full 360 degree compass with the aircraft
centered in the middle to allow the pilots to see behind them and study their peripheral
environment. In some aircraft, pressing this button again will give you this Vertical
situation display, which shows the aircraft from the side and displays the vertical path of
the aircraft. Hence, it shows when the aircraft is ascending or descending and by how
much. We will again take a brief look at this when we do a full flight from A to B.
Range Selector
Alright, so coming over to the right, this
knob over here is quite simple to
understand, as it's simply a range selector
and all of these numbers you see above
this knob simply allow you to adjust the
maximum range seen on the nav display.
This ranges from 5 nautical miles when
the knob is turned all the way to the left
all the way to 640 nautical miles when
the knob is all the way to the right. Note
that when I select say 20 nautical miles,
the end of this compass arc on the map represents 20 nautical miles and these white hatch
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marks, as mentioned before represent partial distance measurements. Finally, this middle
TFC button simply activates the traffic blips on the nav display, allowing pilots to see
other air traffic in their vicinity.
Bottom Row
Okay ladies and gentleman, so that brings us to this bottom row of buttons that all show
additional information on this nav display. Let’s cover these buttons from left to right as
usual. Starting from the left here, we have this WXR button, which activates the weather
radar. This shows different weather cells on the nav display and the different colours
represent the intensity of the weather and turbulence, with green being light and red of
course being heavy supercells. Next up, this STA button shows different radio stations
and nav aid beacons in the vicinity. This WPT button over here shows nearby waypoints
on the map and this ARPT button does the same as the previous two, but for airports, and
shows different airports around the vicinity of the aircraft. Pilots can use this in case of an
emergency and if they wish to perform an emergency landing at a nearby airport. This
DATA switch over here quite simply displays additional information relating to the
waypoints that the aircraft will pass
through on its route. This includes
the estimated time of arrival at
each waypoint in Zulu time as well
as certain speed and altitude
constraints for certain waypoints
that require these to be in place.
Moving further right, this POS
button will display a bearing line to
a nearby VOR or NDB station if it
has been selected on the nav radios.
Now I don’t quite know if this
button is simulated in the Zibo
737-800 as I haven’t been able to get it to work either on the ground or during flight. So,
if I find that it does work at a later date, I’ll be sure to leave it down in the comments
section as well as the description to let you guys know. Finally, at the very bottom, we
have this TERR button, which, like the weather radar, draws a map of the nearby terrain
around the aircraft. Again, seeing green on the display normally means the terrain is at
low altitudes and red normally represents mountains and valleys in the surrounding
region. I must mention that the terrain radar feature doesn’t come automatically with the
Zibo 737, however, there is a freeware plugin available on the X-plane.org that lets add
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this to the simulator as a whole and access terrain features and a whole host of other
aircrafts in the sim too. Just thought you guys should know that.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this Aircrafts Dissected Episode,
covering the Navigation display or ND as well as the bottom row of knobs and buttons on
the EFIS panel. If you’ve stuck around so far, congratulations, you now have a sound
understanding of how a 737 or any modern airliner can travel from point A to B using
waypoints, how they can fly different approaches ranging from ILS to VOR as well as
how to access different additional information on their screens such as weather and
terrain. Now I must also mention that all of the documentation and websites I used to
research for this video are linked down below in the description, including a written text
version of this entire video, if you prefer to read those and understand more about this
aircraft. That being said, the next episode in this series will focus on the MCP or mode
control panel, which will cover all of the autopilot functions of the aircraft such as
manipulating speed, altitude, vertical speed as well as turning on and off the main
autopilot and autothrottle systems within the aircraft. If you guys enjoyed this video,
make sure to flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s any questions you’d
like me to answer for you. Make sure to perform a full stop-landing at the like button and
the subscribe button if you enjoyed the content and press the bell icon for future
notifications from this channel and usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 5: AUTOPILOT MODE CONTROL PANEL
(MCP)
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 5
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome back to another video in my
aircraft’s dissected series, where we delve into every switch, knob and display in the
cockpit of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In the previous video, we covered the main
in-board display unit which houses the navigation display, along with the bottom row of
buttons and knobs on the EFIS panel - so if you haven’t seen that video yet, I highly
recommend you to check it out. In this video, we are going to be taking a look at this
MCP or mode control panel, situated right in the middle of the pilot’s view. I want to
keep the intro short, so here is the list of things I failed to explain properly in the previous
video, so you can pause the video and take a look at it if you so please​. S
​ o, without
further adieu, let’s jump into the flight deck!
MCP (Intro)
So ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800 and
quite specifically, to this MCP panel right in front of the pilots. Now, this panel consists
of probably one of the most important sets of buttons and knobs in the entire flight deck,
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as it allows pilots to control the aircraft’s speed, altitude, heading, vertical speed and
allows holistic control over the autopilot and autothrottle systems within the aircraft. So
before we get started, I just want to say that in this video, I’ll give a detailed description
of what each switch and knob does and its overall functionality in flight, but to truly see
their effect on the aircraft, you’re going to have to wait for the full flight video with the
Zibo 737 coming out very shortly. Lastly, I must once again reiterate that a lot of the
concepts I cover in this video will include references to at least the previous two
episodes, such as the course selector, LNAV and VNAV modes and so on, so if you
haven’t seen the previous two episodes, I highly recommend you to watch them before
watching this one. So let’s not waste any more time and get right into exploring this
panel!
Course Selector
So starting off on the left as
usual, we have the course
selector knob which basically
allows pilots to fly to and from
a whole host of different
navigational beacons on the
ground such as VOR stations,
NDBs or non-directional
beacons as well as ILS beacons
used during instrument-aided landings. Turning this knob while having the appropriate
navigation frequency tuned into the nav radios provides pilots with appropriate
indications on the ND, as you might remember from the previous video, where we looked
at the green bearing line after tuning in the Watsonville Municipal VOR frequency into
the radios. There are 2 of these on the MCP panel, one for the captain and the other for
the first officer and both of them can be used individually as per the pilot’s liking to help
fly the approach.
Flight Director Bars
Coming underneath
here, we have the
flight director switch.
Now if you remember
from episode 3, these
switches are extremely
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important, as without having them switched on, the entire autopilot system basically
doesn’t work. Additionally, they also provide these pink crosshairs on the PFD, which
allow pilots to see the ‘desired’ pitch and roll axis of the aircraft during climbs, descents
as well as turns. As for the switches themselves, flicking the switch up switches the flight
director on and pilots normally turn these on before engine start and only switch them off
after having landed at the arrival airport. Additionally, this MA light on top of one of the
flight director switches implies that this side is the master and the other side is the slave.
This means that, in this case, most of the primary navigation systems in the aircraft will
get data from the left flight management computer, as this system on the left is the
master. Whichever switch gets flicked on first becomes the master and the second switch
to be flicked on automatically becomes the slave.
Autothrottle Switch
Coming here, we have the
main autothrottle arm switch
which controls the engine
performance during various
phases of flight and works in
conjunction with the overall
flight management system to
assist the aircraft in going
from point A to B. Flicking
the switch up arms the autothrottle system and flicking the switch down obviously
switches it off and prevents the system from taking control of the throttles - thereby
allowing manual control over the thrust levers by the pilots. Note that the autothrottle
system may also be turned off by pressing the tiny buttons on both the thrust levers - but
more on that in episode 2 of this series.
Speed Control Knob
Moving further right, we
come to this panel, which
includes a display as well as
some buttons allowing pilots
to control the speed
characteristics of the
aircraft. Starting off with
this display right here, this
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represents the indicated air speed of the aircraft that the pilots can select using this knob
down here. Setting a speed value in here and pushing this speed button will instruct the
autothrottle mode to fly the aircraft at that specific speed by altering engine thrust - pretty
self explanatory. This N1 button right next to this speed button allows pilots to set takeoff
thrust during the takeoff roll. Additionally, this button may also be used during a
go-around when immediate high thrust is required to start climbing the aircraft during an
aborted landing sequence. We’ll get into the N1 settings and what it is specifically when
we look at these display units over here in the next video as well as during the FMC
programming video when we do the Zibo mod full flight. Finally, this button to the left of
the speed selection knob labelled ‘CO’ stands for ‘change over' and allows pilots to select
the speed on this display as a mach number instead of indicated air speed in knots. This
may be used when ATC asks the pilots to speed up during the cruise-phase of the flight.
As for this speed intervene button on the right of this knob, we’ll come to it in a second
after we look at some other autopilot systems. The same is true for this level change
button at the bottom, as I feel you guys need a little bit more knowledge about some other
systems before explaining this button in detail, so we’ll come to it in a second.
LNAV and VNAV
So, coming to the right here,
we have the VNAV and
LNAV buttons, which as
you again may remember
from episode 3, stand for
vertical navigation and
lateral navigation
respectively. These modes,
when engaged, basically
obey every single instruction programmed into the flight management computer before
flight, including speed restrictions, altitude constraints, headings needed to get to various
waypoints on the route and so on to fly the aircraft from point A to B. The lnav system is
responsible for the roll axis of the aircraft and is responsible for turning the aircraft from
one waypoint to the next as programmed into the FMC. The VNAV mode is responsible
for controlling the vertical axis of the aircraft, thereby dynamically manipulating the
aircraft’s pitch and speed to maintain the vertical profile programmed into the FMC.
When these systems both work in conjunction, they control every single control axis in
the aircraft to allow the plane to fly as accurately as it can on its specified route. Alright
now that we know what LNAV and VNAV do, let’s come back to this speed control
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panel and look at this speed intervention button. Now as mentioned before, when VNAV
is engaged, the autopilot systems will manage the speed and altitude of the aircraft using
the constraints that have been programmed into the FMC. In fact, the entire speed display
will go blank, signifying that VNAV has taken over control of the speed and altitude
characteristics of the aircraft. However, say that pilots wish to use VNAV for its altitude
component but want to set the speed manually, they can press this speed intervention
button and dial in a specific speed. This will mean that the aircraft will follow all altitude
constraints programmed into the FMC but the aircraft will only obey the speed that has
been dialed manually into the speed control panel. It might sound confusing at first, but
when you see it in action, it’ll make complete sense. Arming these modes also shows
their appropriate annunciations on the PFD as we saw in earlier episodes of this series.
Heading Control Knob
In the middle of these
LNAV and VNAV
buttons, we have the
heading control knob,
which as you probably
guessed allows pilots to
fly a particular heading
when selected on this
display using this knob.
This system may be used
when pilots are flying prespecified approaches or departures around the world, but are
mostly used when air traffic control vector the aircraft around immediately after takeoff
or during approach. For example, ATC might instruct the pilots to “turn right heading
340”, so pilots would select 340 on this display and push this heading select button,
causing the aircraft to automatically turn the aircraft in that direction. Also note that
manipulating this knob shows a visual representation of the direction being selected using
this pink line and bug on this ND as well as on this partial heading indicator on this PFD.
Lastly, the eagle eyed among you might have noticed that there are actually two knobs on
this panel, and you’re quite right. The smaller knob as we just saw obviously allows
pilots to select the specific heading they wish to fly, but this larger knob at the back
allows pilots to select the maximum bank angle during the turn. This ranges from 10
degrees and goes up in increments of 5 degrees all the way till 30 degrees. This is
especially important when pilots wish to make tight or shallow turns depending on the
phase of flight.
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VOR LOC and APP
So I’ve changed the view up
a little bit as we transition
towards the right of this MCP
panel, so all of the effects of
the next few buttons will be
seen on the first officer’s
displays instead of the
captain’s. Starting with this
VOR LOC button underneath the LNAV button, this serves two major functions. Number
1 is that it allows pilots to let the autopilot systems within the aircraft fly certain VOR
radials instead of flying them manually. Certain airports around the world are rather
challenging to land at and sometimes have tricky approaches which require the pilots to
use this button to reduce their workload when flying VOR approaches. The second
function of this button is that it intercepts the localizer when performing an ILS landing
at a runway. The localizer represents the lateral component of the ILS or instrument
landing system beacon and allows the aircraft to get aligned with the centerline of the
runway during an ILS approach. Pressing this button after having tuned the appropriate
ILS frequency into the nav radios and selecting the correct approach course into the
course selectors will automatically instruct the plane to intercept this localizer and fly the
approach straight onto the runway. Coming down to this APP button, this button acts as a
sister button to the VOR LOC button we just looked at. Pushing this button after having
tuned the appropriate ILS frequency into the nav radios will instruct the plane to intercept
the glideslope component of the ILS beacon, which is used to align the aircraft vertically
with respect to the runway. When the aircraft intercepts both the localizer and glideslope,
it is then perfectly aligned with the centerline of the runway and is descending at just the
right rate to touchdown near the start of the runway threshold. Again, if you don’t
necessarily understand what these terms mean, we’ll take a closer look at these concepts
when we do a full flight with this aircraft later in the series and I promise that you’ll walk
away with much more clarity.
Altitude Control Knob
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Coming to the right, we have the altitude control knob, which as you probably guessed,
allows pilots to select an altitude that the aircraft needs to climb or descend to. However,
there are a few caveats to this, so let me explain them to you. Now, unlike the speed or
heading control panels, the altitude control panel doesn’t necessarily have a single button
that can be pressed to instruct the aircraft to fly to a particular altitude instantly. Instead,
there are 3 primary
methods that the pilots
must choose between
depending on their
use-case-scenario to be
able to get the aircraft to
a certain altitude. The
first one is my using this
altitude intervention
button. What this button
essentially does is that it cancels any altitude constraints programmed into the flight
management computer. Most departure and arrival procedures will have certain specified
altitudes that the aircraft must fly at between certain waypoints. For example, for this
specific departure from San Francisco international airport, the chart specifies that the
aircraft must be below 3000 feet at this waypoint. This constraint will automatically be
programmed into the FMC when the pilots enter this waypoint into their route, as these
procedures are updated monthly and each airline has access to the latest procedures at all
times. However, if ATC has too much air traffic near the vicinity of the airport and wants
to get our aircraft out of San Francisco as quickly as possible, they might instruct us to
climb to flight level 190 or 19000 feet. So, pilots can press this altitude intervention
button, which will automatically cancel the 3000 feet constraint that was programmed
into the FMC, and will then select 19000 feet in this display and the aircraft will
immediately begin climbing to this altitude. Now here’s an important note, do not press
this button repeatedly, as every press basically cancels the next altitude constraint
programmed into the FMC. So pressing this button 10 times due to impatience can result
in you accidentally cancelling important descent altitude constraints at your arrival
airport if you are on a short flight and have less than 10 waypoints in your route. Okay,
the second way to get to a certain altitude is by simply using the vertical speed button
down here and using the scroll wheel to adjust the rate at which the aircraft will climb or
descend to a certain altitude in feet per minute. Also note that arming the vertical speed
mode will also activate this speed mode on the left, so you will have to dial in a speed
that the aircraft will maintain while getting to this altitude at this vertical speed. Finally,
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the last way to set the altitude for the aircraft is by using this level change mode we
previously looked at near the speed control knob. By pressing this button, you can then
select a particular speed on this panel and also dial in an altitude on this panel- the
aircraft will automatically decide the appropriate rate of climb or descend to maintain this
specific speed and to get to this altitude. And lastly of course, you always have VNAV
mode, which will basically take you from waypoint to waypoint on as perfect a vertical
profile as possible while obeying all altitude constraints, but we already spoke about that.
As for the Altitude hold button, this will basically stop your climb or descent to any
altitude specified on this selector and will level the plane off at the exact altitude when
you pressed this button. For example, if you are climbing to 15000 feet and you press this
button when you are at 5000 feet, the plane will stop its climb to 15000 feet and maintain
5000 feet of altitude. And that’s that for the altitude panel.
CMD and CWS
Coming to the final
panel on this MCP
over here, we have the
main autopilot control
panel which houses
the main autopilot arm
and disengage
switches. So just like
most other important
systems in the aircraft, there are 2 autopilot command systems - A and B. These two
switches over here therefore are the main command arm switches. Normally, only one of
these buttons are pressed during flight to switch on the autopilot systems within the
aircraft. The only time both of these buttons are pressed at the same time is when this
approach mode is armed during an ILS landing. When this is done, pilots can switch on
both autopilot systems to be able to perform an autoland procedure, where the automatic
systems in the aircraft will completely take over and land the aircraft onto the runway
during harsh weather conditions such as dense fog. Also note that without pressing at
least one of these buttons, none of the previous buttons on the MCP panel will work.
Their corresponding lights will light up and the displays will show the selected values,
but the aircraft will not obey any instructions programmed into the MCP without having
at least one autopilot system activated. Alright, coming further below we have these two
CWS buttons. Now I’ll be honest with you guys, I have never really used these buttons
when flying the Zibo mod but upon researching it on this website, I found that it is
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extremely useful in certain situations. CWS stands for control wheel steering and allows
pilots to set a particular pitch and roll setting on their control column and yoke and have
the aircraft fly that specific pitch and roll setting automatically. It’s basically a more
advanced version of the trim system we explored in episode 2 and removes the need for
pilots to constantly apply positive pressure on their yoke or control column during a
climb. It is especially useful during initial climbs after taking off from airports as well as
during turbulence mid flight. Finally, coming down here, this is the main autopilot
disengage switch, which, you guessed it, disengages the autopilot systems. Simply flick
this switch down to disengage the autopilot. Note that when you flick the switch down, it
not only disengages the autopilot but also prevents you from engaging it again by
pressing the main command buttons. You need to first flick the disengage switch back up
before flicking the autopilot systems on again. Just thought you should know that.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this Aircrafts Dissected Episode,
covering the Mode Control Panel or MCP. If you’ve stuck around so far, congratulations,
you now have a sound understanding of how pilots can control different autopilot and
autothrottle related systems within the aircraft. Now I must also mention that all of the
documentation and websites I used to research for this video are linked down below in
the description, including a written text version of this entire video, if you prefer to read
those and understand more about this aircra
ft. That being said, the next episode in
this series will focus on some of the miscellaneous buttons and levers located right in
front of the pilots and will also be the final episode of our flight deck familiarization
portion of the series. The next 4 or 5 episodes after that will have us do a full flight on
this aircraft from point A to point B where we will use all of the systems we have
journeyed through so far in this series. If you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to
perform a full stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button and press the bell
icon for future notifications from this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments
section and let me know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. As
usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 6: UPPER AND LOWER DISPLAY UNITS
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 6
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome back to another video in my
aircrafts dissected series, where we delve into every switch, knob and display in the
cockpit of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In the previous video, we looked at the MCP or
mode control panel, which houses all of the important autopilot and autothrottle related
systems within the aircraft. In this episode, we’re going to be finishing up our cockpit
familiarization portion of this series by covering all of the miscellaneous knobs and
switches that sit in front of the pilots and will be taking an in depth look at the various
engine indications on the upper and lower display units. Now an important note,
normally, I always indicate the errors pointed out to me in the previous video and here
they are as usual, so you can pause the video and check them out if you so please,
however, I would also like to explicitly address one of my other errors that was pointed
out by multiple people here. Now if you want to skip this and simply get to the meat of
the video, skip to this point over here, however, if you want to know the error, stick
around to find out. Several people pointed out to me that I made an error in reading the
departure procedure at SFO where I said that this constraint was 3000 feet or below.
However, it actually happens to be 3000 feet or above. The concept I was trying to
explain still applies, but it’s my job as a content creator to dissuade you guys from
learning the wrong thing even if it is from me, so I put it in the video regardless.
Anyways, now that we’re done with the formalities, let’s jump into the flight deck!
Forward Buttons Intro
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800. So there
isn’t a lot of room for an introduction to these buttons as I already mentioned they are
miscellaneous in nature and cover a whole host of different aircraft functions, so without
further adieu, let’s jump into it and cover these systems from left to right as usual.
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Electronic Flight Bag (EFB)
At the very top, we have a proprietary Zibo mod
EFB or electronic flight bag. This EFB can be
used for a whole host of things in the sim such
as adjusting the aircraft’s settings, connecting
ground services such as the GPU or chocks,
fuelling up the plane, loading up the passengers,
calculating takeoff and landing performance
data and much much more. We’ll take a much
closer look at this at the start of the next
episode, when we properly configure the aircraft
from a cold and dark state and I’ll walk you
through the various important settings you need to control before each flight.
Captain Left Side
Coming further below, we have the
coffee holder for the pilots, obviously
not simulated in the sim. Coming
further right here, we have the
captain’s oxygen mask. If you
remember from episode 2 of the
series, the pilots’ oxygen masks are
very specialized and are therefore
stored here to be used in the event of a
cabin depressurization. You can test
the oxygen system and hear an audible
ventilative sound when you press this
button here - like so. Coming further
right, we have these two light controlling knobs, out of which, only this one is simulated
in the Zibo 737. This knob illuminates the area where this EFB is right now, as pilots can
unhook their iPad and look at airport charts and such in this area instead. Finally, this last
half-arc wheel over here is what’s known as the nose wheel tiller, which allows the pilots
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to control the orientation of the nose wheel when taxiing on the ground. Pilots would turn
this wheel anti clockwise to turn the nose wheel left and vice versa.
Caution Systems
Coming to the center here, on the
captain’s side, we have a few more
buttons, knobs and indications to
look at, starting with this master
caution panel. There are three buttons
here, starting with this red one, this is
the main fire warning button, which
lights up when a fire is detected on
board the aircraft. Additionally, an
audible alarm is also sounded
throughout the aircraft like so. You can simply press this button to silence the alarm.
Coming right next to this red switch, this is the master caution light, which lights up
whenever there is a problem or fault with any system within the aircraft. This light is
normally accompanied by an indication on this system annunciator panel, highlighting
which system has a fault. For example, here, we have a problem with the fuel, so the
master caution light has lit up and the system annunciator simply says fuel. To dismiss
this warning, simply press the master caution light and the warning goes away. However,
this dismissal is only temporary as this system annunciator also acts as its own button. If
you dismiss the fuel warning by pressing the master caution light, sure the light goes
away, but if you haven’t managed to fix the problem and press this system annunciator
button, it recalls the problem and lights up the master caution light again. Note that
sometimes you might see the master caution light up but see nothing on the system
annunciator. This is because the two master caution systems on either side of the flight
deck control different systems, so make sure to check the other side, and you’ll find the
problem.
Clock and NWS
Coming further below, right next to this PFD, we have this
digital clock, which allows pilots to see the current date as
well as the time in local as well as Zulu measurements.
Simply press this button to cycle between these modes. On
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the left, we have a chronometer switch, which allows pilots to time the duration of their
flight. Pilots normally start this before takeoff and stop it after landing to measure their
air time. Press the button once to start the chronometer, press it again to stop it and press
it one more time to reset it. Coming below here, we have an ET switch which stands for
estimated time. This is basically the same thing as the chronometer and allows pilots to
track time. Press this ET button once to start the clock and press it again to stop it. You
can also press this little reset button to reset the ET timer. Finally, these two buttons on
the right simply allow pilots to adjust the brightness of this clock. Coming underneath,
this guarded switch allows pilots to select the nosewheel steering setting between the
normal and alternate modes.
GS Inhibit & View Switchers
Alright, so moving up above
the primary display units in
front of the captain, on the
left here, we have this Below
Glideslope inhibit switch.
Basically, when pilots are
handflying an ILS approach
with a glideslope indication
to assist them, this light illuminates when the aircraft dips below the optimal vertical path
to the runway and sounds an automated voice annunciating “glideslope”. In certain
situations when dipping below the glideslope is a planned maneuver, pilots can press this
light to silence the automated voice, but the light will still persist. More information
about what a glideslope is in the previous episode of this series, so go check that out if
you haven’t already. Moving further right, we have some knobs that allow you to
reposition important displays within these panels. Now remember in episode 3 when I
said that calling this outboard display unit the primary flight display was incorrect? Well
this is the reason, as pilots can use these two knobs to reposition the primary flight
display in, let’s say the inboard display unit instead. Pilots normally do this not out of
convenience, but when there is a problem with one of these screens and they must choose
another panel to host these displays on.
Captain’s Indicator Lights
Coming to the right of these view switching
knobs, we come to a few important indicator
lights and buttons. Starting off at the top, this AP
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reset light comes on when the main autopilot command system has been disengaged and
is accompanied by an alarm. You can simply push the main autopilot disengage switch
backup to disable the alarm as well as the light or you may press this button itself, which
accomplishes the same function. Coming to the right, there is a similar switch for the
Autothrottle system but this one doesn’t sound an alarm. Over to the right, this final light
on this panel is the FMC message light, which comes on when there is a message on the
flight management computer. We’ll see more of this in the full flight episodes coming out
after this video. This test button simply allows pilots to test system 1 and 2 to see if the
lights are working properly. Coming further right, we have this main lights switch, which
allows pilots to switch the intensity of the lights between bright and dim modes.
Furthermore, flipping this switch up to this test position lights up every single light and
bulb in the cockpit to allow pilots to see if every single light is operating properly.
System Lights
Coming further
underneath, we have
some more system
specific lights.
Starting off at the left,
we have this takeoff
config light, which
lights up along with an
audible warning when
the thrust levers are
pushed to more than 74% without being prepared for takeoff. This means that either the
flaps are not extended for takeoff or the speed brakes are armed. Basically, if the aircraft
is not ready for takeoff and the pilots advance the thrust levers, this light will come on to
alert the pilots to abort the takeoff and redo their checklists. Right next to this light is the
cabin altitude light, which comes on when the pressure in the cabin exceeds 10000 feet,
thereby signifying a loss in cabin pressure. This is also accompanied by a warning bell,
but I cover the pressurization systems in great depth in episode 1 of the series, so go
check that video out for more information. Next to the cabin altitude light, we have two
lights pertaining to the speedbrake system. This top light, as mentioned in episode 2
shows when the speed brake levers have been set to the armed position. This bottom
speed brake do not arm light come on when there is a fault with the automatic
deployment of the flight spoilers when the lever is set to the armed detent. Finally, this
stab out of trim light comes on when the autopilot systems within the aircraft are unable
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to properly control the stabilizer trim system within the aircraft - more information about
that in the 2nd episode of this series.
Light Control Switches
Finally on the captain’s side, we
have a few more knobs that
control the lighting in the aircraft.
These are all hidden behind this
yoke, so in order to access them
with ease, a pro tip for you
beginners out there is to press this
yoke which makes it disappear
and then you can manipulate
these knobs with ease. So,
starting off with this main panel light, this controls the backlighting of the captain’s
forward panels. Coming further right, this knob controls the brightness of the upper
display unit, which we will take a detailed look at in a second. This next knob controls
the background lighting in the flight deck and this AFDS flood light simply lights up the
MCP panel we looked at in the previous episode. Underneath here, this knob on the left
controls the brightness of the outboard display unit. This next knob controls the
brightness of the inboard display unit and finally this one controls the brightness of the
lower display unit. So, pretty self-explanatory.
Standby Displays
Ok, so that brings us to the center of the forward
panels, where we firstly have these two standby
instrument displays that can be used during
emergencies by pilots. So, on top you have this standby
artificial horizon, which as you can probably see is a
miniature version of the PFD we looked at in detail in
episode 3 of this series. This approach button on top
brings up the appropriate scale ID annunciators to allow
pilots to fly an approach onto a runway. Pressing this
hp/in button allows pilots to switch between
hectopascals and inches of mercury to input the
altimeter setting, which can be done using this knob
over here. Finally, these two buttons to the side allow
pilots to adjust the brightness of this display. Finally,
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you also have this VOR/ADF standby instrument at the bottom, which can provide
radials to nearby VOR stations or ADF stations by using these two buttons to switch
between the two.
Upper Display Unit Controls
And that ladies and gentlemen, brings us to
this upper display unit, which displays
important engine and fuel related information
to the pilots. So we’ll first take a look at the
various indications on this panel before
learning how to manipulate them using these
selectors over here. So, starting off on the left
here, we have the TAT indicator, which shows
the total air temperature. Now note that this is
different from Outside air temperature. The
total air temperature is the temperature of the
air when it hits the aircraft at high speeds. This
air gets compressed when it hits the airframe
of the plane at these speeds and therefore heats
up- an effect known as ram rise, and that
number is depicted here in celsius. On the right
of this indication, we have the thrust mode
setting which has been selected. On the
ground, this will often read TO or takeoff as
that is normally the next phase of flight and
pilots will set takeoff thrust during the takeoff
sequence. Underneath these indications are the two N1 readouts for the two engines. Now
N1 is the primary metric used to measure engine performance and thrust and is basically
the percentage at which the fans or engine blades spin at. You can see how this
percentage changes when I advance and retract the thrust levers. Moreover, on top here,
we can see the N1 indication that has been set for the takeoff - in this case 98.0%,
meaning that the engines will provide 98% thrust during takeoff. Coming down here,
these two indications show the EGT or exhaust gas temperature for the two engines,
which is similar to the analogue EGT gauge we saw for the APU in the 1st episode of the
series. Underneath these indications, we see these FF indications, which stands for fuel
flow, thereby indicating how much fuel is being used per hour by each engine. In this
case, operating the engines at an idle speed of 19.5% N1, the fuel flow is 650 pounds per
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hour. Coming to the top right here, this is a dedicated system annunciator for the engine
display. These top 2 lights will light up and say ‘start valve open’ meaning that the bleed
air valves are open to allow the engine to spool up to their idle speed during the engine
start procedure. The next two indications will show Filter Bypass, which is similar to the
fuel filter bypass lights on the overhead panel and will show if fuel is skipping its
filtration process and is being injected directly into the engines. Finally, this last row will
show low oil pressure indications , which is pretty self-explanatory. Finally, at the bottom
here, we see the total fuel on board as well the overall fuel distribution. We see how
much fuel is in the left, right and center tanks and we also see the units in which the fuel
is being measured, in this case: pounds.
Buttons for UDU
Okay, so now that we’ve taken a
look at this display, lets see what
these buttons and knobs do on
top. Firstly, this knob over here
allows pilots to set an N1
reference for the engines. By
keeping it to auto, the thrust
setting for takeoff or go around
thrust will be calculated by the
flight management computer
depending on what is selected in
the FMC when the pilots
calculate the takeoff performance before the flight. We’ll see how to do this in the FMC
programming video of the series. Pilots can also set individual N1 thrust settings for each
engine by using this knob at back to choose between engine 1, engine 2 or both engines
and then using this smaller knob to select the specific N1 value. Coming to the right of
this knob, we have a V-speed reference knob, which allows pilots to set important takeoff
reference speeds on the PFD. Again, leaving this knob to auto allows pilots to use the
FMC to program the V-speeds that are displayed on the speed tape during takeoff, but
they may also use this larger knob to manually select a particular V-speed and then use
this smaller knob to adjust the value for that V-speed. Now if you don’t know what a
V-speed is, I’ll cover it in detail in the FMC programming video. Trust me, that is indeed
going to be an important video. Finally, this Fuel flow switch over here is spring loaded
and changes this fuel flow display on the upper display unit we just looked at. When in
this ‘rate’ position, the display will show the rate at which fuel is used by both engines.
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When this switch is flicked down to this ‘used’ position, the FF display will temporarily
change to highlight how much fuel has been used so far by the aircraft and will
eventually go back to the same fuel flow indications. Flicking the same switch up resets
the fuel used indications back to 0. Pilots may do this before a flight to not have their fuel
usage indications clash with any previous flights performed with the same aircraft.
MFD or LDU
Alright and that brings us to this
lower display unit which as you can
see is normally left blank. However,
it’s pretty simple to display
information on here using this MFD
panel. By pressing this engine button
once, you get access to all of this
engine related information on this
display. At the top, you have the N2
readout. Now, after researching a lot
about the N2 readout, I must say that
it is a hard concept for me to
understand. However, from what I
gathered, the N1 is an indication of
the low pressure spool of the engines
and thereby shows the speed of the
fan blades as a percentage of total
thrust. N2 on the other hand is an
indication of high pressure spool of
the engines and is responsible for
providing power to the aircraft. If there are any real world pilots in the comments section,
please feel free to provide me with an explanation about what N2 is as the viewers and I
both will greatly appreciate it. Coming underneath, we have the fuel flow value again,
nothing new there. The next 3 indications underneath all show information about the oil
used in the engine core of the aircraft, so we have the oil pressure, the oil temperature and
the oil quantity at the bottom. Finally, at the bottom, we have this VIB indicator which
shows the engine vibration inside the nacelle. These hatch marks on top indicate vibration
thresholds and if the engine is vibrating more than this amount, it may lead to engine
failure or even structural damage, so this is a pretty important readout. Pressing this Eng
button again will bring a condensed version of the information we just saw on the Lower
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display unit now onto the Upper display unit without the visual indications. Finally,
pressing the engine button again deletes this information from both the display units and
returns us back to our original state. Pressing this System button right next to the engine
button shows some aircraft subsystem information on the lower display unit. Starting
from the top, we see the hydraulic quantity and pressure of the hydraulic fluids in both
hydraulic systems A and B and pilots will normally check to make sure they have enough
before starting their flight. Coming underneath, we have the brake temperatures for the 4
main landing gear wheels. Underneath here, we have live readouts of the position of
every movable flight control surface in the aircraft, including the elevators, the ailerons,
the flight spoilers or speed brakes as well as the rudder on the very bottom. Pilots will
normally verify their full range of motion during a flight control check performed before
every flight. Finally this CR button is a cancel recall button which is very similar to the
system annunciator button we looked at previously. Pressing this button once allows
pilots to recall any indications on the upper and lower display units and pressing it again
allows them to get rid of these indications. And that’s that for this panel.
Autobrake
Alright, let’s move up here to these last few
buttons and indications here to wrap up this
center portion of the forward panels. Starting
off with this knob over here, this is the
autobrake knob which controls the intensity of
the braking performance provided by the
landing gear of the aircraft on landing. Pilots
can select the appropriate braking performance
all the way from 1 which offers mild braking
performance all the way to max for the most
severe braking performance. The setting that
the pilots select is based on different things
such as the condition of the runway, if it is dry,
wet or slippery as well as the runway length,
presence of a tail-wind etc. This RTO setting
here stands for rejected takeoff and pilots
switch the autobrake setting to this mode before takeoff to allow the aircraft to provide
maximum braking action if the pilots decide to abort the takeoff for any reason. This
autobrake disarm light on top comes on when pilots switch over to manual braking after
having landed to vacate the runway. We’ll see this being used during our full flight video.
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Underneath this is the anti-skid inoperative light, which as you probably guessed, comes
on when the anti-skid system is inoperative.
Flaps and Gear Lever
Moving further right, we come to this analogue gauge we
looked at in episode 2 of the series which theshows the
position of the flaps from up to 40 degrees from the
horizontal. This LE flaps transit light comes on when the
leading edge flaps and slats are transitioning into position
and this green LE flaps extended light comes on when the
flaps are locked into position. Coming further right, this
big lever over here is the main landing gear lever. The
lever itself has 3 distinct positions: up, down and off.
When switched to the down position,the hydraulic systems
within the aircraft extend the main undercarriage of the
aircraft and lock in place to be able to absorb the impact of
the aircraft’s weight when touching down. This is
highlighted by these three green lights on top. When the
landing gear is pushed up, the hydraulic systems will
retract the gear from its down position and will lock it in
place inside the wheel-well of the aircraft. When the
landing gear is transitioning between positions, these 3
lights will come on as red lights and all lights will
extinguish when the gear has been retracted. Finally, this
off position depressurizes the hydraulic systems that hold
the gear in their position in the wheel well. Pilots normally
switch the landing gear lever to this position a few minutes
after takeoff, as once the gear is safely stowed within the
wheel-well, constant hydraulic pressure is not required to
hold them there. Moving to this colourful analogue gauge
here shows the brake pressure within the landing gear of
the aircraft. Any value between 3 to 3.5 means that the brakes have good pressure and are
sufficient for flight, but a value in red means that there is too much brake pressure and a
value in yellow means that the pressure within the brakes is lacking. Again, pretty
self-explanatory. Finally, we come to the first officer’s side of emergency indications
which are identical to the captain’s except for this indication right here. This speedbrakes
extended light comes on when the flight spoilers or speed brakes are extended at a time
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when they are not supposed to be, for example during takeoff or other such phases of
flight.
GPWS
Finally, on the first officer’s side
we have the main GPWS system,
which stands for the ground
proximity warning system. This
system is responsible for alerting
pilots whenever the aircraft is
getting anywhere close to the
ground. This includes everything
from the minimums annunciations
when the aircraft is coming in to
land and is perfectly stabilized, all
the way to unstabilized
approaches, windshears, flying
into high terrain conditions and so
on. This light on top is an inop
light to signify a fault or failure
with the GPWS system.
Underneath this light is a GPWS test system which tests the automated voices that sound
in the cockpit during various different phases of flight. To hear what happens when I
press this button, go to episode 3 where I show the GPWS system’s effects on the PFD.
Finally, these three guarded switches over here allow the pilots to inhibit or turn off
certain alarms in the cockpit relating to the flaps, the landing gear and the terrain system.
These are used when either the aircraft has a problem that the pilots are already aware of
and don’t want a constant alarm to distract them or when they are flying special
approaches into certain airports that have rather weird procedures. For example, if pilots
are flying into a region with high terrain knowing that they must avoid the terrain around
them and have accounted for this, they can simply flip this cover and flick this switch up,
thereby disabling any terrain-related voice commands from disturbing the pilots. Finally,
on the right here are three knobs that allow the first officer to control his/her panel
backlight on their side as well as control the brightness of their inboard and outboard
display units respectively.
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Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this Aircrafts Dissected Episode,
covering the miscellaneous switches that lie in front of the pilots on the forward panels. If
you’ve stuck around so far, congratulations, you now have a sound understanding of how
pilots can monitor different engine parameters and various subsystems in flight. Now I
must also mention that all of the documentation and websites I used to research for this
video are linked down below in the description, including a written text version of this
entire video, if you prefer to read those and understand more about this aircraft. That
being said, the next episode in this series will be the start of our full flight portion of this
series, where we will generate a flight plan using an external software called SimBrief
and learn about all the important components within a standard operational flight plan. If
you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform a full stop-landing at the like button
and the subscribe button and press the bell icon for future notifications from this channel.
Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s any questions
you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 7: FLIGHTAWARE AND SIMBRIEF
FLIGHT PLANNING
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 7
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the first video in the full
flight portion of this Aircrafts Dissected series covering the Boeing 737-800. So in the
previous 6 episodes, we took a detailed look at every single button, knob, switch, display,
panel - basically every single nook and cranny of the Boeing 737-800 flight deck, so if
you haven’t watched those videos yet and want to really see how the Boeing 737 works,
then I highly recommend you to check them out. If you have indeed watched those
episodes, then now, we’re going to be bringing all that theoretical knowledge to practice
and conduct a full flight from point A to B, starting with this first episode, where we will
plan a flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the United States. We will take a look
at how to find real flights and then use a free software called Simbrief to generate a
proper operational flight plan to be able to fly the route. Finally, as always, here is the list
of things I got wrong or failed to explain in its entirety in the previous episode, so you
can pause the video and take a look at it if you so please. Alright, so without further
adieu, let’s get into the video:)
Intro to FlightAware and Simbrief
Alright, so instead of welcoming you to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800 as usual,
this time I’m welcoming you to Google Chrome, where we’ll be taking a look at two
websites that will help us plan for our flight from San Fran to LA. The first website is
FlightAware which is a real-world flight tracker that provides some amazing information
we can use, such as real flight numbers, departure and arrival gates and times and so on.
The second website we’re going to use is Simbrief, which is a little bit more flight
simulation specific. Here, we can input certain values relating to our chosen flight and the
website will calculate an appropriate route, fuel, winds, cruising altitude and a lot more
information. Okay, so, let’s take a look at FlightAware and pick out the information we
need for our flight today.
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FlightAware
Okay, so this is the main
page of FlightAware and
right off the bat, we see
certain open fields here
that you can fill out to
track real world flights.
So for our flight today,
our departure airport is
going to be San Francisco
and our arrival airport is
going to be Los Angeles, so let’s type them in here and see what results we get. Okay, so
as you can see, there are a bunch of real world flights that fly between these two airports.
This shouldn’t really come as a big surprise, as both of these airports are some of the
most popular ones in North America. On the left here, we have a bunch of filters that we
can use to choose between certain airlines, departure and arrival times and most
importantly for us, the aircraft type. As you can see, a bunch of different aircraft types fly
this route every day from the Boeing 737-800 we’re gonna look at all the way to the
Boeing 767-300 or even the Embraer E-jets. So, we’re going to come over to this ‘only’
option next to the Boeing 737-800 and click it and as you can see, the list of aircrafts over
here is reduced substantially. So I feel like flying Delta today, so let’s click on this flight
over here and we’ll be taken to a more comprehensive page for just that flight. Alright so
here we have some important information to take note of as this is the exact flight we’re
going to be replicating in the sim. To start off, at the top, we have the aircraft’s flight
number over here in both ICAO and passenger friendly formats. For those of you who
don’t know, ICAO stands for International Civil Aviation Organization and among other
things, it has assigned every airline as well as every airport and nav aid in the world with
letter codes. So for Delta, the ICAO letter code is DAL or Delta Alpha Lima in the
aviation phonetic alphabet. The same goes for the airports as well. San Francisco is
KSFO or Kilo Sierra Foxtrot Oscar and Los Angeles is KLAX or Kilo Lima Alpha X-ray,
as you can see down here. So here, we have the departure time as well as the arrival time,
which means that we’re going to set up our aircraft around 6:00 in the morning in the
simulator to give us enough time to start-up the aircraft and depart the gate at 6:58am that is if you want to do everything by the book. Additionally, we also see the departure
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and arrival gates over here, so we’re going to be parked at Gate D12 at San Francisco and
will be looking to park at gate 25A at LA. Additionally, here we can see the estimated
flight time of the route this aircraft took, so it took Delta 805 1 hour and 14 minutes to go
from its gate at KSFO to park at its gate at KLAX. On the right here, we see some more
information about the exact takeoff time, the landing time as well as the time the aircraft
took to taxi from gate to runway and vice versa. Alright, so that’s pretty much going to be
all the information we need from FlightAware. So now that we have chosen our flight,
let's go into Simbrief and create a fictional operational flight plan to use within the
simulator.
Simbrief
Okay guys, so welcome to the home page of Simbrief, which as mentioned before, is a
free flight planning software for flight simulation. You will need to create an account, but
once you do and you verify it using your email account, you will be brought to this main
screen with these options up top. So since we want to create our flight plan, we’re going
to go to this dispatch tab over here and click on dispatch system. That brings us to his
new page with these 4 options where we’ll go ahead and click on ‘new flight’ as you
probably expected and that brings us to the most important page where we’ll fill in all of
the required information about our flight to allow Simbrief to create an OFP for us. Now
keep in mind that unlike the flight deck familiarization episodes we’ve been doing so far,
I won’t go into extreme depth about each of these options as I want to focus on filing our
flight plan and get on with out flight because after all, this is a 737-800 tutorial video.
That being said, if you do want to see an in-depth tutorial regarding Simbrief, then let me
know in the comments section and I will surely make one for you guys. Anyways, with
the introduction aside, let’s get to filling in this information.
Information Filling
So starting from the left, we’re going to go ahead and enter the airline we’re flying with
today so DAL or Delta and the flight number which is 805. Next up, we’re going to put
the departure airport as KSFO and the arrival airport as KLAX. Next, Simbrief
automatically calculates an alternate airport for us, in this Kilo Oscar November Tango or
Ontario International airport in California. The reason for even having an alternate airport
in the first place is to be able to have a backup airport to divert to if the plane can’t land
at the arrival airport. The reasons for this are vast, ranging from runway closures, ATC
strikes or even bomb threats or terrorist activity preventing aircrafts from landing there.
Having an alternate airport also changes fuel calculations in order to have enough to
divert and land at the backup destination. Beside it we have the current date and time in
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Zulu measurements. Coming underneath, we get to select the aircraft type in this
dropdown menu. As you can see, there are a lot of options ranging from all sorts of airbus
aircraft, Boeing aircraft and even business jets like the TBM and the metroliner. We of
course want to select the Boeing
737-800 which is B738 for short
right over here. As you can see,
that automatically populates all of
these fields for us, including our
climb and descent profile;
highlighting the different speeds at
which we will fly as well as a
fictional aircraft registration
numbers and FIN numbers.
Underneath here, we see some
additional parameters that are
automatically calculated but can
also be manually filled in. We see
the scheduled time on route, the
departure and arrival runway
depending on real world weather
reports as well as weight and
balance related aspects such as
number of passengers and whether
cargo is being loaded on to the
aircraft. I personally leave all of these fields to auto except for switching this cargo field
to auto when I’m flying long haul aircraft, but the 737 with passengers on a 1 hour flight
will almost never carry dedicated cargo, so we can leave it to 0 for now. So finally,
before we move down, let’s come to the right here and configure some more options. We
can leave the OFP layout to LIDO which stands for Lufthansa Integrated Dispatch
Operation and it’s the default layout that the final OFP will be provided to us by
Simbrief. However, if you want to have maximum realism, you can choose between
various airlines here such as British Airways, EasyJet or even Delta, but we’re going to
stick with LIDO for now. Coming underneath, we’re going to switch the units to pounds
instead of kilograms because we’re flying in the US today. Finally, we can leave the
contingency and reserve fuel to auto and the aircraft will automatically calculate these
fields for us and all of these values can be checked on.
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AIRAC and Route
Okay, coming down to this
AIRAC cycle here, you see
that it says 2008, meaning
that it is the 8th cycle for the
year 2020. Now for absolute
beginners in the world of
aviation, AIRAC stands for
Aeronautical Information
Regulation and Control and
is a set of procedures and
guides that change on a
monthly basis depending on changes taking place in real life. These procedures include
everything from new runways, departure and arrival procedures, waypoints, airways and
so on. In the flightsim world, this AIRAC data needs to be purchased to get access to the
latest data and I personally use a service called Navigraph, which provides global AIRAC
data throughout the year and also provides detailed airport c harts for all aerodromes in
the world. I’ll leave a link to all of these websites in the description section of the video.
By default, if you don’t have this subscription from Navigraph, your AIRAC data will be
set to this 1903 cycle which is more than a year old but will still work as long as you have
the same AIRAC cycle installed in your simulator. So coming back to its function in
Simbrief, if you have the latest AIRAC cycle, simply select it here to get the latest route
information. Coming down, we have the main routing for the aircraft, which takes data
from all of these external sources, including FlightAware which we previously looked at
to give us a route from San Fran to LA. Now we’ll talk about this route in detail in just a
second after creating our operational flight plan but let’s look at some more information
around it. So on the right here, we have different suggested routes depending on the
various runway options selected up above. Down here, we see the route distance along
with a percentage indication to show how much longer the aircraft is travelling than if the
aircraft went directly from San Fran to LA without hitting any waypoints or Airways. So
in this case, with this route selected, we’re travelling 7% than we would have if we took a
direct approach, which we can’t do anyway because we must follow procedures.
However, you can see this percentage changing depending on the route selected, as some
waypoints can take you around the airport a little bit longer, thereby extending your route
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distance. So here I’ve selected the shortest route of 7%, and then all we have to do is go
up to these dispatch options again and click on generate OFP. It’ll ask you for a
confirmation, go ahead and click yes and it’ll start generating a proper flight plan for you.
OFP Summary
Once the OFP has been
created, you will be greeted
with this page showing you a
brief summary of all of the
important information you’re
going to need on your flight.
You obviously have your
aircraft type, your flight
number and the various
important airports during your
flight, but you also have your
cruising altitude, in this case
FL350 or 35000 feet as well as
our block fuel we are going to
be carrying - approximately
14000 pounds on this flight with our Zero Fuel weight and our takeoff weight at the
bottom here. Coming underneath, we also have a visual representation of our flight
through this little map view which shows our route from San Fran to LA while we go
from waypoint to waypoint. Finally, coming underneath, we have our actual operational
flight plan. Now keep in mind that I’ll only be covering the important parts of the flight
plan and not every single aspect. If you want a detailed description of what each and
every part of this flight plan means, you can click on this little option which takes you to
an interactive custom flight plan and you can learn about every bit of an OFP. So what I
like to do personally to be able to look at this OFP better is to go up top and click this
Print/View PDF button which shows the entire OFP in a separate tab. So let’s go over the
important information we’re going to need for our flight.
Cost Index, winds and ISA
So, starting from the top here, we again have our flight number, the date this flight plan
was generated, the ICAO codes of the airports we’re flying to and from as well as the
specific engine type on our aircraft, in this case, the CFM56, which is accurate since
that’s what the Zibo mod also uses. Coming to the right here, we have the first set of new
information relating to the performance of the aircraft during flight. Starting off with this
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CI value, it stands for Cost index. Now in simple terms, the ​cost index​ is a number used
in the Flight Management System to optimize the aircraft's speed during cruise. It gives
the ratio between the unit ​cost​ of time and the unit ​cost​ of fuel. ... A low ​cost index
means that the ​cost​ of time is low or
that fuel is expensive and vice versa.
The value can range all the way from
0-500 on the 737-800 but normally
doesn’t go above 100 though. Coming
underneath, we have our ground
distance and our air distance values,
which means our journey today is going
to be approximately 300 nautical miles.
Coming underneath to this value, we
have our average cruise winds on our
flight which is represented in the
direction/speed format, so in this case,
the winds are coming from 240 degrees
at 32 knots. This can be inputted into
the FMC to allow the aircraft to better
calculate it’s progress and to accurately
determine the aircraft’s time of arrival
at various waypoints. Finally, the last important value ​here is the Avg ISA, which stands
for International Standard Atmosphere and is used to standardize different aircraft
instruments. Now I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on this, because I’m not, but as
I understand, in principle, it works similar to an altimeter setting which we looked at in
episode 4 of this series. Basically, it uses a thermodynamic equation to come up with an
ideal atmosphere, devoid of water vapor, wind and turbulence and by using a standard
reference for pressure, temperature, density and viscosity at various altitudes throughout
the atmosphere. When we enter this value into our FMC, the aircraft then cross-checks
the value against the ISA and thereby shows the deviation of the aircraft’s predicted
performance compared to if it were flying through a perfect atmosphere. I’ll leave a link
to an article explaining this better in the description section of the episode.
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Fuel
Alright, coming down here, we have
our planned fuel value and
distribution during various phases of
flight, let’s take a look at them one by
one, as they’re pretty easy to
understand considering it’s just an
additional chart. Starting off with the
first row, we have our trip fuel, so to
get from SFO to LAX, we need 6049
pounds of fuel and the time taken for
us to get there will be about an hour
and 3 minutes. Underneath, we have
15 minutes of contingency fuel added
to our flight in case we have any
delays due to ATC vectoring or any
other reasons. Coming underneath,
we have another 2461 pounds of fuel
added to allow us to divert to our alternate airport, which was Ontario international
airport as mentioned before. As you can see, that gives us another 30 minutes of air time.
Finally, Finres means final reserve fuel, which is another 40 minutes of backup fuel
added to the aircraft for any emergencies on the way. Adding all that up, we have our
minimum takeoff fuel, in this case, 13263 pounds giving us an air time of 2:28 minutes.
Note that our predicted airtime to get from San Francisco to LA is just over an hour, but
have an hour and 30 minutes of extra fuel as backup in case anything goes wrong, goes to
show how safe flying really is. Finally, we also have 500 pounds of extra taxi fuel added
to the aircraft, giving us around 20 minutes of taxi time bringing our total block fuel to
13763 pounds that we will be fueling our aircraft with.
Routing
Ok, coming underneath, we have our routing information, highlighting our specific route
we will be taking on our flight today. The route is written in a linear fashion from left to
right, so let’s go from left to right. So obviously, first we have the departure airport, Kilo
Sierra Foxtrot Oscar and the departure runway 28R. Next up we have the SID, which
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stands for Standard Instrument Departure. The premise behind this is that most airports,
especially international ones will have multiple different departure procedures depending
on which runway is active as well as the direction the aircraft is going to go. For
example, Westbound departures will take a different SID then eastbound or eastbound
departures. This is done to safely escort the aircraft out of the airport’s airspace and onto
its route. So in this case, we’re going to be taking the Wesla4 departure and this EBAYE
waypoint is going to be our transition. What this means is that we will follow the
WESLA4 departure until we hit this EBAYE waypoint, after which we get on our route
to actually get to LA. Next up, this DCT means direct, so after EBAYE, we will head
direct to this REYES waypoint here. After Rayes, we will take this Juliet 1 airway and
take that airway to head to FIM or Foxtrot India Mike, which will act as our arrival
transition to Los Angeles. Just like EBAYE, this transition will pluck us out of our route
and put us into an arrival procedure to land at Runway 25L at KLAX. This arrival
procedure is called a STAR or Standard terminal arrival, which in this case is going to be
SADDE8 arrival. So a protip to distinguish between waypoints, airways, SIDS and
STARS. SIDS and STARS will normally have a letter code followed by 1 number, like
you see here. Waypoints will always be just letter codes, like these ones, and airways will
always be letters followed by numbers and will normally be between waypoints. The
more routes you fly, the more comfortable you’ll get. Now if you don’t know what
waypoints or airways are and are confused about SIDS and STARS, go check out episode
4 of this series, where I explain the waypoint and airway system using a train track
analogy. As for the SIDS and STARS, you’ll understand how they work when we do the
FMC programming video so don’t worry too much about them at the moment.
Weights
Okay, so coming further down, we have
the weights section of the flightplan,
where we have the weight and balance
parameters for the flight. Starting from
the top, we have the number of
passengers, so 167 in this case. Next up,
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we have 0 pounds of cargo, as we had specified before. Next up, this payload section is
extremely important, as it represents the sum of the total passenger weight, luggage
weight, flight crew as well as other non-fuel related weight metrics. Coming underneath,
we have the Zero-Fuel Weight, which as you probably guessed is the weight of the
aircraft without the fuel. Underneath, we have our fuel weight, approximately 14000
pounds in this case. Underneath, we have the total takeoff weight, again pretty self
explanatory and finally the landing weight at the very bottom which shows our landing
weight at LAX assuming regular fuel burn and also assuming you didn’t just throw
people off the flight during cruise.
Flight Log
Finally, we’re going to take a brief look at this flight log, which shows important
information about every single waypoint on our route. So, let’s start from the top and take
a look at some of these indications. On the left, we have the name of the waypoint, and if
it is part of a SID or STAR, then that’s also mentioned on top. Moving further right, we
have the exact coordinates of the waypoint in latitude and longitude. Moving further
right, this represents the aircraft's altitude at that specific waypoint, so in the case of this
WESLA waypoint, we’re going to be at 8100 feet when we intercept it. This value over
here represents the distance between waypoints, so the distance between WESLA and
PORTE is 6 nautical miles and the distance between PORTE and SUSEY is 10 nautical
miles and so on. Coming further right, this number represents the remaining distance
from that waypoint to the destination and as you can see, the number decreases as we
cover travel along our route. Over here, we have our ground speed at the waypoint and
moving further
right, we have the
winds at the
waypoint. Coming
over here, we have
the estimated
outside air
temperature at each
waypoint assuming
we maintain the
vertical profile
specified on the
route, and finally,
over here is the
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estimated fuel on board at that waypoint. Pilots will often cross check this number with
the actual EFOB in the aircraft to make sure that the aircraft is flying according to plan.
Finally, the last two things I want to explain to you guys here are these TOC and TOD
indications, which stand for Top of Climb and top of descent. The Top of climb is the
point in the route where the aircraft finally reaches its cruising altitude, in this case Flight
level 350. As you can see, all previous waypoint altitudes are increasing up until TOC,
where the altitude finally states FL350. The aircraft then cruises at this altitude until
hitting it’s Top of descent point, which is the start of the aircraft’s descent to its arrival
airport. Hence, all waypoint altitudes are decreasing after the TOD point. Pilots
specifically input the particular winds and the ISA deviation at the Top of climb point
into the FMC before flight in order to assist the aircraft in accurately planning for fuel
burn, speed and other such factors. So, that’s that for all the important aspects of the
flight plan we’re going to need, to perform our flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
The rest of the flight plan is not so important in the flightsim world, as it includes
fictitious information such as NOTAMs or notice to airmen, which includes warnings
regarding construction projects near the airports to watch out for and cranes and other
obstacles during arrival and departure and so on - all of which are not important in a
simulator. Additionally, the flight plan may also contain information regarding runway
closures, noise abatement procedures and so on - again not important in the sim world, so
you don’t need to worry about any of that for our 737 flight.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this Aircrafts Dissected Episode,
covering both FlightAware and Simbrief to plan our flight from San Fran to LA. If
you’ve stuck around so far, congratulations, you now have a sound understanding of how
to look up real world flights and plan for one using Simbrief. Additionally, you have also
learnt how to interpret a LIDO layout of flight plan, within which, we learnt about
various fuel calculations, wind information, cost index and ISA deviation. Now I must
also mention that all of the documentation and websites I used to research for this video
are linked down below in the description, including a written text version of this entire
video, if you prefer to read those and understand more about this aircraft. That being said,
the next episode in this series will have us do an electrical power up procedure with the
Zibo 737, where we’ll start the aircraft from a cold and dark state and eventually prep it
for takeoff. If you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform a full stop-landing at the
like button and the subscribe button and press the bell icon for future notifications from
this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s any
questions you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 8: ELECTRICAL POWER-UP
PROCEDURE
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 8
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the second video in the
full flight portion of this Aircrafts Dissected series, where we delve into every single
switch, knob and display in the flight deck of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In the
previous episode, we took a look at FlightAware and SimBrief, which are two fantastic
flight tracking and virtual flight planning softwares available online, where we planned a
real flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles. So, in this episode, we’re going to be
taking all of the theoretical knowledge we have learnt in the previous 7 episodes,
covering every single nook and cranny of the Boeing 737-800 flight deck and apply it in
practice through the initial electrical power up procedure as well as the preliminary
preflight procedure. Hence, though not a prerequisite, it would be extremely
advantageous for you guys to first watch the previous 7 episodes in order to get a detailed
understanding of each and every system, if you’re really looking to learn everything
about this aircraft. That being said, if you just want to click a few buttons and get
yourself in the air, this is the video for you! Additionally, we will also be taking a
detailed look at the EFB in the flight deck to be able to configure the aircraft’s settings in
the simulator properly before starting our flight from cold and dark. This includes setting
the right units for weight and balance, configuring nose-wheel steering as well as some
visual eye-candy. For the actual procedures, I will be using a detailed 737-800 checklist
made by kennair which is available online for free. I’ll leave a link to this checklist down
in the description below but appropriate elements of the checklist will also be visible on
screen while we go from system to system for better understanding. Finally, the last thing
I would like to say is that I’m going to try my hand at live commentating in the next few
episodes. I did try to script the entire flight, but it just didn’t feel organic, and I think I’ve
done a decent job explaining all of the systems in the aircraft and when we actually do a
flight, it’s imperative that you experience the simulator with me as against experiencing it
as a fragment of intense post-processing and editing. I will do my best to be as concise as
possible, thereby maintaining professionalism, but it would be great if you could cut me
some slack in these first few videos as I learn the tools of the trade. Anyways, that’s
enough chitter chatter about what we’re going to do, let’s jump into the simulator and see
how we actually do it.
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Introduction (Setting the Scene)
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome to San Francisco at dawn. It’s about 5:45 in the
simulator at the moment and we are currently parked at Gate D12 as mentioned in the
previous episode of the series. As you can see, we’re flying with Delta airlines and our
flight number is Delta 805 and we’re going to be starting up this aircraft from a cold and
dark state here in San Francisco and taking it down to Los Angeles along the west coast
of the United States. So, without further adieu, let’s jump into the flight deck!
EFB Settings
Alright people, welcome to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800 and as you can see, the
aircraft is completely cold and dark, meaning that no instruments, panels or lights are
currently running. So, as mentioned previously, before getting into any procedures, we’re
going to configure some aircraft settings in this EFB over here. As you can see, there are
several immersion options for us here to play around with, but we’re going to get to that
later on during the flight. First, we’re going to move our mouse cursor to the right of the
EFB and as you can see it changes to this right pointing arrow, implying that there is
another page we can look at. So, click it and that brings us to page 2 of the EFB, where
we have the main settings window here which says “configure and customize”. Clicking
this option brings us to a whole host of different aircraft parameters and settings we can
adjust. Now I’ll only be walking you guys through the actual changes that I have made
deliberately, as the rest of the settings are left default. I will however show each settings
page briefly for you guys to pause the video and copy any settings that might not be
default in future versions of Zibo mod. So, starting from the top left as usual, we have
this display and variants tab, which adjusts some external as well as internal features
within the aircraft. All of the pages you’re seeing right now are left completely default, so
no changes here. Let’s press this back button here to go back to the main settings page
and let’s look at the hardware configuration. Here, this is the only setting I have changed
and I highly recommend you to do so as well unless you have a proper home cockpit with
a dedicated nose-wheel tiller. What this setting essentially does is that it maps your nose
wheel-tiller to a particular axis on your joystick- in my case, it’s my rudder pedals. So
I’m essentially able to operate the nosewheel of the aircraft while taxiing using my rudder
pedals. Next up, we have this realism tab, where we have these first two options that you
can adjust based on your convenience. These essentially change the IRS alignment time
and the aircraft fueling time. I normally keep these to short as I simply start up the
aircraft and am ready to go within 20 minutes. However, since we’re doing an
instructional video today, I have kept the times to real, meaning that the IRS systems will
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take about 6-7 minutes to align and the aircraft itself will take about 15-20 minutes to get
properly fueled up. Coming back, let’s head into the visual effects tab, where I have
changed this windshield effects setting to SKI mode, which provides amazing rain effects
on the windshield as well as passenger windows but is also heavy on FPS. So if you have
a low to mid tier system, I suggest playing around with either the ‘on’ or ‘XE’ settings.
Additionally, if you’re fishing for a few more fps, then you can also turn off the
windshield and gauges reflection here. I leave it on as my system can handle it. Finally,
let’s go back and head into this general tab, where we’re going to keep the global units to
pounds and the Baro units to inches of mercury, as we’re flying in the US today.
Everything else is left to default settings. Coming down, we also want to set the Engine
no run state to sCold and dark instead of turn around. I think it automatically defaults to
cold and dark, but if it doesn’t, you can always come here and change that setting.
Finally, these three settings have been untouched and have been left at default values, so
you have nothing to change there. Once we’ve finished configuring all of these settings,
go to the first page of the EFB by moving your cursor to the left side, go into save and
load configs and click on quick save all configs. This basically saves all of the changes
we just made in the settings tab. To get these changes to take effect, simply go up to the
menu bar, click on developer and click on reload the current aircraft and art. Your
simulator will then load up the aircraft with all of the changes we just selected.
Ground Services
Alright ladies and gentleman, now that we’ve configured some changes within this EFB,
let’s connect some ground equipment to the aircraft and get started with the electrical
power up procedure. So, what we want to do is to come down to this Ground services tab,
and on the top left, connect the GPU as well as the chocks. The GPU, as you might
remember from previous episodes stands for Ground power unit and is responsible for
providing power to the aircraft while the aircraft is on the ground and doesn’t have the
APU or the engines running. As you can see, you can see the GPU from the first officer’s
window and it’s connected to the aircraft via a wire to constantly provide electrical power
while we plan for our flight and are ready to start-up the APU. The chocks on the other
hand are similar to car wheel stoppers and are rubberized objects that are placed in front
of and behind the aircraft’s landing gear to prevent it from sliding all over the place when
parked at the terminal. So, now that we have both of those connected, let’s get started
with the electrical power-up procedure, where we’ll be using the Boeing 737-800
Procedure Checklist supplied by Kennair as mentioned before. A link to the procedure
checklist may be found in the description and you may follow along with me as we
explore the various panels. So let’s get started!
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Electrical Power up (GPU)
Alright so starting off, if you guys remember from episode 1, the first switch or button to
be manipulated by the pilots when starting the aircraft from a cold and dark state is this
main battery switch. So let’s go over to it and flip this cover down, which will
automatically place the encompassed switch to the on position. As you can see, a few
lights have come on indicating low oil pressure as well as other warnings and we can also
hear a few faint sounds of the various subsystems within the aircraft working the
background. The lights are completely normal and are to be expected during this stage of
the power-up procedure. As we work from system to system, these warning lights will all
extinguish by the time we’re ready for taxi and takeoff. Next up, we’re going to come
down to this standby power switch and make sure that the switch is guarded by the black
cover. Again, as mentioned in episode 1, pilots normally don’t ever mess with this system
as it’s responsible for providing electrical power to all the critical systems within the
aircraft. We just want to make sure that the switch inside is set to the auto position and
the guard has been closed. Coming further up to the flight control panel, we have this
alternate flaps master switch. Again make sure that the encompassed switch is not armed
by mistake and close the cover. Next up, let’s come all the way down to these windscreen
wiper switches located next to this APU EGT gauge and make sure that they’re both in
the park position. The reason for not having the wipers on is two-fold. Number 1 is that
it’s a beautiful, sunny day in San Francisco right now but more importantly, number 2 is
that the wipers consume a lot of electrical charge and we don’t have too much to spare at
the moment. This is because we’re currently working off of the onboard battery, which
only stores electrical charge, it doesn’t produce any. So we want to check all critical
systems while on battery power without turning anything we don’t absolutely need on.
Next up, we’re going to go to this hydraulic pumps panel and make sure that these
electrical hydraulic pumps are set to the off position. This is again to preserve battery
power in the early stages of the electrical power-up procedure. We also want to make
sure that the corresponding low pressure lights above the electrical hydraulic pumps are
illuminated. Coming further down, we have a change of scene from the overhead panel to
the forward panels, where we’re going to check that the main landing gear lever is in the
down position. Additionally, we’re also going to check that the three landing gear lights
above the lever are illuminated to make sure that the undercarriage of the aircraft is down
and locked. And once all of that is done, we’re going to head back up to the overhead
panel and connect the ground power unit. So we simply head over to this switch right
here and you’ll see this ground power available light, implying that a GPU is connected
to the aircraft and is ready to supply power. So, simply flick this GPU switch to the on
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position like so. And as you can see and probably hear, some external cooling fans have
now come on and some of the warning lights on the overhead panel have also
extinguished. We now have constant electrical power from the GPU and we’ll use it to be
able to plan for our flight before starting the APU just prior to engine start.
APU Fire Test
Speaking of the APU, although we’re not starting it yet, we still need to conduct a few
fire related tests before starting it and since it’s part of the electrical power up procedure,
let’s conduct those tests now so we don’t have to worry about it when we eventually get
around to starting the APU. So first up, we’re going to come to this engine and APU fire
panel and verify that these three big buttons are pushed in. Next up, we’re going to make
sure that the overheat detection switches on both sides are set to the normal position
instead of fire detection loop A or B. This switch isn’t simulated in the Zibo anyway, but
real pilots would check it at this time. Coming underneath, we’re going to flick this test
button to the left and verify that the Overheat detection and APU detection inoperative
indications are working as intended. Next up, we’ll flick this same switch to the right and
observe if the three main fire extinguishing switches come on accompanied by an audible
alarm. While keeping that button held, we’re going to go to this master fire warning
switch and push it in. As you can see, that stops the red lights and also silences the alarm.
Finally, we then move to this switch on the right side and flick it both ways to see if the
extinguisher indications are working as intended. Once all of this is done, we are now
cleared to start the APU as we please, obeying all of the noise abatement procedures at
the airport of course.
Preliminary Preflight Procedure
Alright ladies and gentlemen, with that, we’ve finished the electrical power up procedure
for the aircraft. Just a little recap of what we’ve done, we’ve established constant
electrical power to the aircraft using the GPU and have tested multiple fire detection units
within the aircraft to make it safe for us to start the APU with ease when we eventually
need to. So next up, the final procedure list for this episode is going to be the preliminary
preflight procedure, which can be performed by either the captain or the first officer. So,
without further adieu, let’s get started. So, the first item on the list is the IRS mode
selectors, so let’s go to the aft overhead panel and locate them, here they are. So we want
to make sure that they are first in the off position and then turn them to the nav position.
You want to do this one by one for both the IRS mode selectors. So flick one of them to
nav. You’ll see the “On DC” light come on, signifying that the IRS systems are drawing
direct current, but that light will soon extinguish and will be replaced by this white
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“align” light on the left. Once that’s done, you move the second IRS mode selector to the
nav position as well. So just as a side note, since we set the IRS align time to real earlier
on during the video, they will take about 7 minutes to align. To see the exact progress of
their alignment, simply go up to this IRS display selector knob and switch the back knob
to the heading/status mode. So, as you can see, it’s going to take 6 to 7 minutes for both
the IRS units to align. Alright, once that’s done, the next item on the list is to turn the
voice recorder switch on. Again, this panel is not simulated in the Zibo mod 737 so
nothing you can do here. Coming back to the aft overhead panel, we make sure that the
PSEU or proximity switch electronic unit light is extinguished as well as the GPS light on
the IRS panel is also extinguished. If either of these lights were illuminated by any
chance, we’d have to call maintenance to fix the problems, as they’re both critical
systems. Moving right, we ensure that the service interphone system is set to the off
position and the engine panel is also set. What this means is that the EEC or engine
electronic control switches underneath the covers are set to the on mode instead of the
alternate mode and that the engine reversers and the engine control lights are both
extinguished. Coming further below, we need to ensure that the oxygen panel is set,
meaning that the crew oxygen supply pressure is between 1000 to 1500 psi and that the
passenger oxygen mask cover is guarded. Additionally, also ensure that the passenger
Oxygen on light isn’t illuminated as that would signify that the oxygen masks for the
passengers in the back have been deployed. While we’re here, also make sure that the
secondary landing gear light on the aft overhead panel shows all green, thereby again
signifying that the wheels of the aircraft are in the downed and locked position. Finally,
we want to come to the right here and make sure that the flight recorder switch is guarded
and that the off light next to it is indeed illuminated. Finally, the last item on this
procedure demands us to come back down next to the throttle quadrant and verify that the
parking brake is set. So make sure that the lever itself is in its pulled back position and
the big red cherry light next to it is illuminated. And that’s the end of the preliminary
preflight procedure.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this aircrafts dissected episode,
covering the electric power up as well as the preliminary preflight procedures. If you’ve
made it this far into this rather short video to be honest, congratulations, you now have a
sound understanding of how to start-up a Boeing 737-800 from a cold and dark state and
provide it with an electrical power source to be able to plan for a flight on the ground.
Additionally, you also know how to get the IRS systems ready for alignment and to take
various precautionary measures to start the APU within the aircraft. That being said, the
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next episode in this series will focus on programming the FMC or flight management
computer within the control display unit. In stark contrast to this episode, the next one is
going to be relatively long, as there are several things to explain such as navigation,
performance and other such important flight-related features. However, the rest of the
videos in the series will be coming out much faster than they have been up till this point,
as I only need to record one flight and the various aspects of it that need explaining. Now
I must also mention that all of the documentation and websites I used to research for this
video are linked down below in the description, including a written text version of this
entire video, if you prefer to read those and understand more about this aircraft. If you
guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform a full stop-landing at the like button and
the subscribe button and press the bell icon for future notifications from this channel.
Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s any questions
you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 9: PROGRAMMING THE FMC/CDU
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 9
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the third episode in the
full flight portion of this Aircrafts Dissected series, where we delve into every single
switch, knob and display in the flight deck of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In the
previous episode, we took a look at the electrical power-up procedure as well as the
preliminary preflight procedure, where we established electrical power to the aircraft and
prepared the IRS systems for alignment. In this episode, we’re going to be taking a look
at the Control Display Unit located in front of the pilots to program the flight
management computers in the flight. We will be taking a detailed look at how to program
a route, configure takeoff and climb performance and program our departure out of San
Francisco and our arrival into Los Angeles. Now one final note- unfortunately, the
kennair procedure checklist we used in the previous episode doesn’t have detailed
procedures for how to go about programming the FMC. Hence, I decided to go ahead and
create my own checklist. I’m pretty sure I will be uploading it to the X-plane.org forums
but nevertheless, that checklist will be linked down in the description for you guys to
follow along with me. So without further adieu, let’s jump into the flight deck.
Internal Lights and Steady Strobe
Alright ladies and gentleman, welcome back to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800. As
you can see, the aircraft is in the exact same state where we left off in the previous
episode, with the main battery switched on, the GPU connected and supplying power and
the IRS mode selectors ready for alignment. Now, before we get started, let’s do a couple
of things that come later on in the Kennair checklist, but I like to do now. Number 1 is to
switch the strobe light up here to the steady position. If you remember from episode 1,
this basically activates the green light on the left wing and the red light on the right wing
and indicates to others near the aircraft that pilots are currently on board and are working.
The next thing I like to do is to configure a few lights within the cockpit. So let’s start off
at the top and work our way down. Starting at the aft overhead panel, I like to switch the
main dome light to the dim mode. Coming further down to the forward overhead panel,
you may adjust the panel backlighting as you please. You can also do the same on the
forward panels like so and also switch on some background lighting if necessary. Finally,
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we’ll also come down to this central pedestal and switch the backlighting on, which is
especially useful right now as it also lights up the CDU buttons.
Configuring Payload and Fuel
Alright ladies and gentlemen, next up, we’re going to start programming the flight
management computers for our flight from San Francisco to LA. However, before
jumping back into the CDU, let’s configure the payload and the fuel for our flight. The
way to do this is again through this EFB we looked at in the previous episode. So let’s go
into the fuel, weight and balance tab and head into the payloads section. So, click on this
payload indication and you’ll be brought to this main payload adjustment page. Now if
you want, you can go ahead and enter individual values for each zone of the aircraft,
however, we’re just going to enter our total payload weight using the information from
our operational flight plan. So, under the weights section, we see that our total payload
for this flight was 38400 pounds, so let’s go ahead and enter that in. Next up, let’s go
back to the main page and select payload again. This time however, we’re going to click
on the fuel indication and dial in our total block fuel which was under the planned fuel
section of the OFP. So we’re going to go ahead and enter 13763 pounds like so. Finally,
let’s go back to the main page one more time and we’re going to select this fuel truck call
option which will bring up the fuel truck and start fueling up the aircraft. You can see this
on the outside like so as well as see the fuel value slowly going up on the bottom right of
the upper display unit.
CDU Introduction
Alright, so welcome to the central display unit or the CDU located right next to the lower
display unit we looked at in episode 6 of this series. Now I understand that a lot of people
get very confused with the complex numbers and figures we need to dial into this system,
however, it’s actually pretty easy, considering we obtained most of these numbers from
our operational flight plan in episode 7 and also because the CDU is almost like an old
Nokia flip-phone. So obviously, we have the main display in the middle and on either
side, we have 6 buttons which allow us to key in important information into various fields
located alongside each of these buttons. You’ll see what I mean in a second. Underneath
the display, at the top, we have a series of shortcut buttons that will take us to important
flight information pages on the CDU, such as the route page, the climb and cruise page,
the descent page and so on. In this video, while performing a standard point to point
flight between two large international airports, we are only going to be using these 9
buttons. On the left here, we also have a numpad, again, like one of those nokia flip
phones and we also have a plus or minus symbol to enter runway slopes or temperature
values. On the right of this keypad, we have all the letters of the english alphabet as well
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as these space, delete, backslash and clear keys at the bottom. Also, at the top of this
keypad, we have this execute button, which we will be taking a look at in a second.
Finally, beside the execute button, we have this display brightness knob, which allows
pilots to adjust the brightness of the CDU.
ACARS
Alright, so with the introduction to this CDU aside, let’s get to . So, as you can see,
currently, the display gives us the option of either jumping into the FMC or flight
management computer and start programming our flight or go into this ACARS page. For
those of you who don’t know, ACARS stands for ​Aircraft Communications Addressing
and Reporting System and is a digital data-link system for transmission of short messages
between aircraft and ground stations via airband radio or satellite. In the Zibo mod, we’re
going to use this ACARS system to obtain the current weather information at our local
airport, AKA San Francisco. So in order to head into this ACARS page, simply press the
button adjacent to this ACARS text on this display. As you can see, we are now in the
ACARS menu. So we have a couple of things we can see here. At the top, we have the
title of this menu, which is ACARS menu and the number of pages within this menu, so
there’s only 1 in this case, and we’re on page 1. On the top left we see this ATIS request
option. Now for those of you who don’t know, ATIS stands for Automatic Terminal
Information Service which is a constant automated voice that is broadcasted on a specific
ATC frequency which contains important information such as the current weather
conditions, active departure and arrival procedures as well as cautionary messages such
as the presence of birds near the vicinity of the aircraft and so on. So since we need the
weather conditions for this airport, we’re going to go ahead and click this button right
next to this ATIS request indication. As you can see, that brings us to this ATIS request
menu. As you can see on the right, we have this airport message along with these blank
boxes below which always signify that you can type something within them. So let’s put
the ICAO code of the airport we need weather information about, so KSFO and as you
can see, it copies that message on to this scratchpad down here. Now all you need to do is
to go and click on the button adjacent to the airport indication and it populates that field
with KSFO. Note that this is how we’re going to be filling in all of the information in the
various fields today. Next up, we’re going to go ahead and click on this send button down
here to send our request to get weather information at San Francisco. It’s going to take a
second to get the required info and an ATIS indication will pop up. So line select that and
there’s the ATIS information for KSFO. Don’t worry if it looks a bit complicated as
we’re only going to need this bit of the ATIS information. So reading it from the left, we
see the current time in Zulu time. Below that from left to right, we see the ICAO code of
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the airport, the local wind at the airport, in this case ​310 degrees at 15 knots​ and on the
right of the winds, we see the visibility, in this case, 10 statute miles - meaning its a
beautiful day to fly. Coming to the second line, from the left, we see the cloud status, in
this case ​few clouds at around 900 feet​, the temperature, the dew point as well as our
altimeter setting, in this case ​29.90​ inches of mercury. And that’s all we need from the
ATIS broadcast under the ACARS tab. So simply press this menu button and you will be
brought back to the main menu to select between the FMC and ACARS pages again.
Ident and Pos Init
Okay, so next up, let’s head into this FMC menu and right off the bat, as you can see,
we’re brought to this iden page which obviously stands for identification. So there isn’t
really much to fill into this page, however we do need to verify a couple of things.
Starting off, at the top left, we make sure that the specific model of the aircraft is correct
which is Boeing 737-800W in this case. The reason we do this is because Boeing has
different proprietary FMS programs that they install into the CDUs of their aircraft. So
we just want to make sure that we don’t by any chance have the Boeing 747 FMS
program installed here instead, but as you can see, we’re all good. Next up, we want to
make sure that the Nav data installed in the aircraft is as needed. This relates back to the
AIRAC cycle I mentioned in episode 7, so if you have the latest AIRAC cycle, you
should see that as the active navdata cycle over here. If you don’t have the latest AIRAC,
you’ll see the one you do have here and will also get a message on the scratchpad here
saying Nav data out of date. Simply clear that by pressing this clear button and you
should be good to go. Finally, we’ll make sure that the engine rating for this aircraft is
26k. This is again similar to the model test, as this tests the engine model. So in our case,
our 2 CFM56 engines can provide 26 thousand pounds of maximum thrust. So, once
we’ve verified all of these parameters, we can then head into the next page by pressing
the button adjacent to the pos init indication down here. So pos init stands for position
initialization and the main thing we’re going to do here is to allow the IRS systems on
board to be able to calibrate themselves and provide the correct indications in these
displays. So to start off, we’ll go ahead and enter the reference airport, in this case our
departure airport which is Kilo Sierra Foxtrot Oscar. Underneath, we’ll go ahead and
enter the gate we’re currently parked at which is D12 in this case. Finally, over here we
see this set irs position indication with these boxes underneath. So we need the exact GPS
coordinates of where we’re parked, so as to assist the IRS systems in aligning. We can’t
really use the coordinates of the airport itself over here as those are the coordinates of the
geographic center of the airport and we’re not exactly there. Luckily, if you press this
next page button, you’ll be taken to this position reference page where we see the two
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GPS calculated coordinates for our aircraft from the left and right GPS systems
respectively. So simply go ahead and line select either one, let’s go with the left one for
today and copy it to the scratchpad below. Then we’re simply going to head back to the
previous page and line select the Set IRS position indication and voila, it fits like a glove.
Additionally, if we pan up above, we’ll see that the PFD and the ND have also come
alive thereby confirming that the IRS alignment has been performed successfully.
Route and Departure & Arrivals
Okay so from the position initialization page, we’re now going to head into the route
page by clicking on the appropriate button at the bottom right. By now, you should have
realized that the FMC is not trying to confuse you or anything. It literally takes you from
page to page and asks you to give it the information it needs to fly the aircraft properly.
So, as you can see, we have a few more fields we need to fill out. Starting from the top
left, we have the origin, where we type the departure airport. Now the FMC already
remembers our reference airport from the previous page, so you may simply line select
the origin and KSFO automatically gets inputted into the field. Next up, our destination
airport is going to be Los Angeles, so let’s put in KLAX into that field like so.
Underneath the destination airport we have our flight number, so we’re going to put in
DAL805 or delta alpha lima 805. This coroute indication stands for company route - the
premise being that airlines will often fly this route everyday and will hence always use
the same route. So instead of manually entering every single waypoint and airway
everytime the pilots fly, they can simply enter in a company route and all the fields will
be populated automatically for them. For the instructional purposes of this video, we’ll be
doing everything manually, so we’ll leave that blank. As for the runway, this will get
filled up automatically when we enter it in the departure and arrival page. Speaking of the
departure arrival page, let’s go into it by pressing this button over here. As you can see,
we’re brought to this page over here where we can select the departure and arrival
parameters of the flight. So let’s go over to the top left and select departure out of san
francisco. So on the left here, we have a long list of SIDS or standard instrument
departures and on the right, we have a list of all the runways available at KSFO. So
looking at our flight plan, we’re going to be taking off from runway 28R so let's keep
flicking through the pages until we find it, there we go, happened to be on page 2. Next
up, we’re going to select our SID, which as you can see on screen was the Wesla 4
departure, so again, cycle through the pages till you find it and then line select it. When
you select the SID, you get a new dropdown list of transitions and as you can see,
EBAYE is right near the top, so we’re going to go ahead and select it there. So once we
have the departure side of things sorted, we’re going to head back to the route page and
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as you can see, the runway field here has been populated with 28R. So to enter our full
route, we’re going to go to the second page of this route menu, where we have these via
and to indications. So the basic rule of thumb here is to enter the airways under the ‘via’
tab and waypoints under the ‘to’ tab. So after EBAYE, we’re going to head directly to
REYES, as there is no intermediary airway. When you have no airways, simply type the
name of the waypoint and enter it directly under the ‘to’ category. As you can see, the
CDU automatically understands that it’s a direct routing. Next up, after REYES, we’re
going to join the J1 airway, so let’s enter that under the VIA section and we’re going to
take that all the way to FIM or foxtrot India Mike. So that’s the end of our route and the
start of our arrival procedure into Los Angeles. So next up, we’re going to go back to the
departure and arrival page but this time, we’re going to enter our arrival information into
Los Angeles so go ahead and line select arrivals into los angeles. Once again, we’re
brought to a page similar to the departures page but instead of SIDS, we now have
STARS or standard terminal arrivals on the left. So according to our flight plan, our
predicted arrival runway is going to be 25L, so let’s select that on the right and our STAR
is going to be the SADDE8 arrival which we can also go ahead and select. Finally, our
arrival transition is going to be FIM, so let’s also go ahead and select that over here.
Finally, with the entire route selected, including the departure and arrival procedures,
pilots would normally confer with one another and make sure that the information
entered is correct. We then press this activate button, which as you can see, illuminates
this light above the execute button. So simply press this execute button and the route has
been saved into the FMS.
Performance Initialization
So that’s that for the navigational aspect of the FMC. Next up, we’re going to be
configuring the aircraft’s performance characteristics, which involves calculating takeoff
thrust, programming the cost index and so on. So the first page we’re going to look at is
the perf init page, which as you can see at the bottom is the next page the CDU is
directing us to. So let’s click it and we're brought to the performance initialization page.
Much like the position initialization page, we’re going to enter some vital information
here to allow the aircraft to get an idea of how it’s going to fly today. Starting from the
top left, we have the gross weight and the cruise center of gravity calculation. This is
pretty easy to do in the Zibo mod, as we already entered our fuel and payload, so simply
line selecting this indication will fill in the gross weight automatically. Additionally, it
will also fill in this Zero Fuel Weight indication at the bottom. Now there is no mention
of gross weight in our OFP, but we can check to make sure that the Zero fuel weight is
within the specific boundaries in our flight plan. As we can see, the zero fuel weight
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given by the FMC is 133.4 and the flightplan estimates it to be between 130.3 and 138.3,
so as long as we’re in that range, the calculations hold up. Underneath the gross weight
indication, we have our planned and total trip fuel. As you can see, the total fuel is
already filled in as 13.8 but we can also enter the planned fuel to get from San Fran to LA
to allow the aircraft to understand how much extra fuel we have on board. So we can
revisit the OFP and enter this trip fuel value as a decimal number, in this case 6.0.
Coming down, we have our reserve fuel value, which again we can find in the fuel tab as
the FINRES value, so in our case, we’re carrying 3315 pounds of reserve fuel which can
be typed in as 3.3 like so. Underneath, we have the cost index value. Again, referring
back to the flight plan, we see that our cost index was 31, so simply come down here and
type 31 into this field. I must also mention at this point that if you don’t know what
FIBRES is or cost index is, go check out episode 7 of this series, where I explain how to
read an operational flight plan in detail. So, coming to the top right of this menu, we’re
primarily going to be referring back to the flight log portion of the flight plan, starting
with the cruising altitude. On the left here, we see that the aircraft tells us that the optimal
cruising altitude for our flight based on our specified parameters should be FL375.
However, as seen on our flight plan, our cruising altitude is FL350 so we’re just going to
come down here and enter 350 or 35000 feet or FL350 - any format will work. As soon
as we enter that value in, we get a few more options and the execute light comes on. So
first thing we’re going to enter are the cruise winds, which as we can see are found over
here. So the winds are coming from a direction of 240 degrees and are at a speed of 48
knots. Finally, underneath the cruise winds, we can go ahead and enter the ISA deviation
which as you can see, is plus 10 on the flight plan. So simply go ahead and enter 10. Note
that if the ISA deviation value were negative, we would have to click this button down
here to switch to a negative symbol and then enter the chosen value. Finally, we’re going
to make sure that the transition altitude entered here is also correct. You can verify this
using airport charts, and as you can see, 18000 feet is indeed correct. So once all the
values on this page have been entered, verify that they are all correct and when you’re
happy, go ahead and push the execute button like we did for the route.
N1 Limit
So next up, let’s head into this N1 limit page, where we will be configuring our total
takeoff and climb performance. So, before we get started, I think it’s important to give
you guys a premise behind why configuring thrust performance is so important. As you
guys know, in real life, airlines pay a lot of money to be able to maintain their fleet of
aircraft and a large proportion of that money goes towards making sure that the engines
are operating at specified safety standards. Although the engines are rated to be used for
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upwards of a decade or more, there are ways to increase their lifespan and one such way
is to reduce the thrust produced by them during takeoff and climb. Large international
airports such as San Fran or LA have long runways and departure procedures, so aircraft
don’t need to go max throttle and take off as quickly as possible. Instead, they can use a
bit more of the runway in exchange for saving wear and tear on the engines. So, on the
N1 limit page, we’re going to limit the thrust for takeoff and there are 2 main methods of
doing this and this process is called “derating”. Method number 1 is to use a fixed derate.
So as we saw on the ident page, the CFM56 engines installed in this aircraft can provide a
maximum thrust of 26000 pounds, which gives us an N1 value of 98.7%. However,
underneath the 26K setting, the aircraft has two other presets providing 24000 and 22000
pounds of thrust, which have an N1 value of 94.5% and 92.3%. Now in the sim, you can
simply select one of these fixed derates to reduce takeoff thrust but in real life, pilots will
normally also use something called an assumed temperature which is another value that
the pilots will provide the FMC with to be able to properly provide the right thrust for
takeoff. Now I don’t want to go into too much detail about how to calculate this assumed
temperature value, but I’ll leave a link to a website down below that will explain what it
is and how it’s calculated. In the sim, I actually use a tool called apsoft, which is a free
plugin available on the X-plane.org forums that does takeoff and landing calculations for
you. So as you can see, upon entering the ICAO code of the departure airport, some
weather information and the predicted takeoff weight, the software spits out values for us.
So, according to this software, our assumed temperature value is going to be 39 degrees
celsius and our fixed derate to go along with that will be the lowest 22K derate. So, let’s
go ahead and start inputting the required information into the N1 limit page. So our
assumed temperature goes on top here, so let’s enter 39 here. Additionally, also verify
that the OAT or outside air temperature reading after the backslash is correct here. After
that, we’re going to come down to select the 22K derate for takeoff. As for the right side,
make sure that the N1 value is set, so for us it's going to be 90.1%. Now note that the
discrepancy between this N1 value and the one we see here is due to the fact that the
passengers, payload and cargo configuration of the Zibo is a tab bit different to the one
used in Apsoft software’s rendition of the 737-800. Just go for the one that Zibo gives
you, as that’s always more reliable. We’re also going to make sure that the N1 bugs are
set on the upper display unit, which they are, so that confirms that we’ll be spinning the
engines at approximately 90% of their capacity during the takeoff sequence. This climb
derate is similar to the takeoff derate and basically adjusts our rate of climb from the
departure airport. There isn’t really too much of a need to mess with this setting, so you
can leave the climb derate to the first, top-most setting over here. And that’s that for the
N1 limit page.
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Takeoff Page
Alright ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the final performance page on the FMC,
which is the takeoff page. Here, we’re going to set a few pretty self-explanatory
parameters regarding the takeoff in particular. Referring back to the Apsoft tool, our
recommended takeoff flaps settings is flap 5, so let's go ahead and enter that in here.
Coming underneath, let’s again verify that the takeoff derate and N1 are set, so 90.1% N1
is checked and the derate is 22K. Coming underneath, we have this CG indication which
stands for center of gravity. Now I’m pretty sure that the pilots in real life actually
calculate this value, but the Zibo mod just gives it to you if you line select it, so simply
go ahead and press this button, and we get both our CG and our stabilizer trim values
which we will set later on in the preflight procedure. Next up, on the right of this page,
we have our V speeds. Now as promised in previous episodes, I’ll provide you guys with
a brief understanding of what the three important V speeds are. In essence V speeds are
standard terms used to define airspeeds that are important or useful to the operation of all
aircraft. So in the case of the Boeing 737-800, we have three main ones. V1 is takeoff
abort speed. This means that any time before reaching V1 while moving on the runway,
the pilots can abort the landing safely and apply maximum brakes to come to a stop
without overrunning the runway threshold. The pilot flying would normally keep one
hand on the control column or yoke while keeping the other on the throttles until reaching
V1. After the pilot monitoring calls V1, the pilot flying will take his hands off the thrust
levers and place both hands on the yoke to be able to pull the control column back for
takeoff. That brings us to VR, which is the V rotate speed. When the pilot monitoring
calls rotate, the pilot flying will gently pull the yoke back and apply positive pressure on
the yoke to raise the nosewheel of the aircraft and take off. Finally, V2 is just a reference
indication and isn’t normally called out by anyone in the flight deck. Essentially, V2 is
the single engine safe climb speed. So if an engine experiences a failure after crossing
V2, the plane can continue its climb safely and vice versa. So calculating these V speeds
in the Zibo mod is pretty simple, but we’re going to give the aircraft a little bit more
information to give us the most accurate values. So let’s head over to page two of the
takeoff reference page and here, we’re going to enter the runway winds, which is 315 at
15 knots which we got from the ACARS data in the beginning of the video. Next up,
we’re going to come down here and enter the runway heading, which can be again found
on airport charts, so as you can see, the runway heading for 28R is 284 degrees. So we’re
going to come down here and input a backslash and then the runway heading, as that is
the format we see here. Now unfortunately, the Zibo 737-800 doesn’t allow us to input
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the runway slope, or we would have done that too. Finally, on this page we’re going to
select the runway condition. So we have the option to choose between dry, wet and skid
resistant runways. We’re just going to keep it to dry for now. Finally, we’re going to
come back to the first takeoff reference page and line select the V speeds. And there we
go, we have our V1, VR and V2 speeds calculated for us. Finally, on this page, we can
also make sure that the predicted takeoff weight is within the boundaries of our flight
plan like we did for our zero fuel weight calculation and as you can see, it’s well within
the specified range. So that’s that for the takeoff page and by extension, also the end of
the CDU preflight procedure.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this Aircrafts Dissected Episode, the
CDU preflight procedure. If you’ve stuck around so far, congratulations, you now have a
sound understanding of how to fully program the flight management computers within
the aircraft and get them ready for flight from both a navigational and performance
perspective. Now I must also mention that all of the documentation and websites I used to
research for this video are linked down below in the description, including a written text
version of this entire video, if you prefer to read those and understand more about this
aircraft. That being said, the next episode in this series will be the final preflight
procedure, after which, we will start up the engines and get ready for taxi and takeoff. If
you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform a full stop-landing at the like button
and the subscribe button and press the bell icon for future notifications from this channel.
Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s any questions
you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 10: PREFLIGHT PROCEDURE
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 10
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the third video in the full
flight portion of this Aircrafts Dissected Series, where we delve into every single switch,
knob and display in the flight deck of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In the previous
episode, we looked at how to program the control display units or CDUs in the flight
deck, where we saw how to input various navigation and performance-related factors into
the Flight management computer and prepare the aircraft for the flight. In this episode,
we’re going to be conducting the preflight procedure, where we use various flows to be
able to check the position of every switch in the flight deck and prepare the aircraft for
engine start, taxi and eventually takeoff. So, without further adieu, let’s jump into the
flight deck.
Flight Deck Into
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800. So,
as mentioned before, in this video, we’re going to take a look at all of the switches and
verify that their positions are indeed correct. What I didn’t mention before is that we’re
going to be speeding through these switches one by one, without too much explanation as
to what that switch or system does. That being said, if you do want to see what each and
every single system, knob and button does in this aircraft, check out the first 6 episodes
of this series, where we do just that. So, let’s get started with the preflight procedure from
the overhead panel.
Flight Control Panel, Navigation and Displays and Fuel
Alright, so starting at the top left, we have the flight control panel, where we’re going to
make sure that the both the flight control switches, both the spoiler switches and the
alternate flaps master switch are all guarded. Additionally, we also want to make sure that
only the two low pressure lights over here and this yaw damper light are illuminated.
Speaking of the yaw damper, we’re going to come down to its corresponding switch and
turn it to the on position. Wait for one second and make sure that the light above it
extinguishes, confirming proper operation of the yaw damper system. Coming down to
the navigation panel, we just make sure that it is set, so make sure that the VHF
navigation, the IRS and the FMC switches are all in their normal positions. Coming
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below to the displays selector, also make sure that the source is set to the auto position
and the control panel is set to the normal position. So in essence, no need to do anything
on these two panels other than verifying the correct position of the knobs and switches.
Coming further underneath, we have the fuel panel, where, starting from the top, we’re
going to make sure that both the engine and spar valves on either side are dimly lit and
the fuel temperature gauge needle is between -45 degrees celsius and +49 degrees celsius.
Coming underneath, make sure that both the filter bypass lights on either side are
extinguished and that the crossfeed valve open light is also extinguished. Go ahead and
verify that the position of the cross-feed valve switch is also broken, as you see on screen
right now, so as to suggest that the physical crossfeed valve is indeed closed. Finally,
coming underneath, make sure that all of the fuel pumps are in their off position and the
low pressure light above the wing tank pumps are illuminated and the ones on top of the
center tank pumps are not. The reason these lights are not illuminated is because we’re
not carrying any fuel in the center tanks for our flight from San Francisco to LA.
Electrical Panel
Next up, we’re going to go all the way to the top of the next column on the overhead
panel and monitor a few electrical parameters of the flight. So starting off, make sure that
these three lights are extinguished. Coming down to this DC knob over here, switch it to
battery and make sure that the current draw is 0 amps. As for the knob on the right,
switch it to ground power to see the voltage being provided by the GPU for the electrical
tasks on board the aircraft at the moment. Finally, make sure that the cabin utility and In
flight entertainment system switches are both set to on. Coming further below to the
standby power panel, we’re going to make sure that the standby power switch guard is
closed and the corresponding light is not illuminated. We also want to make sure that the
two generator drive disconnect guards are closed and the drive lights above them are
indeed illuminated. Coming below to the bus transfer and electrical source selector panel,
simply make sure that the two gen off bus bus lights are illuminated and that the bus
transfer switch is guarded and closed.
APU (Start-up)
Next up on the procedure checklist, we need to make sure that the overheat fire and
protection panel is set. We won’t be doing this in this episode, as we already covered it
and performed an exhaustive list of fire tests in episode 8 of this series, so go check that
if you haven’t seen it. So next up, we’re going to be starting the all-important APU or
auxiliary power unit within the aircraft to make ourselves self-sustainable and to get
some bleed air within the aircraft to operate the air conditioning systems. So, simply
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come down to this APU switch, flick it to this start position and release it. It should
automatically jump back to the on position and this low pressure light should come on
above. Additionally, you will also see the APU EGT or exhaust gas temperature reading
increasing on this analogue gauge over here. Now starting the APU takes around 2 or 3
minutes, so I’ll see you guys when the APU is up and running.
APU (Selecting electrical source)
Alright, so as you can see the APU is up and running and is ready to supply electrical
power to the aircraft. This is represented by the illumination of this APU Gen off bus
light in the middle. So, to individually power both sides of the aircraft, simply flick both
these left and right switches down to the on position like so. As you saw that also
extinguishes the APU Gen off bus light- confirming that we’re currently using the APU
as our primary electrical power source. To confirm that we’re getting enough power to be
used from the APU, simply go back to the AC and DC power monitoring panel and
switch this AC knob to APU Gen. As you can see from the CPS frequency indications as
well as the AC amps and volts, we’re clearly drawing power from the APU and it is
indeed running successfully.
Middle Column
Alright next up, on this middle column, we’re going to go ahead and flick this emergency
exit light switch guard down, which automatically places the switch in the arm position.
This means that the emergency exit lights will automatically come on in the passenger
cabin in the event of an emergency. Coming underneath, we’re going to switch the
seatbelts sign to the on position. Note that you must only do this after fueling has been
completed in the aircraft. So, since we fueled up our aircraft in the previous episode, we
can go ahead and turn on the seat belts sign so that passengers entering the cabin
immediately know what’s expected of them from a safety standpoint. Finally on this
column, again make sure that the windscreen wipers are set to park mode and aren’t set to
any of the on modes by mistake.
Heating, Icing and Hydraulics
Alright with the middle column taken care of, let’s come to this external instrument
heating panel and make sure that the overheat and on lights above the window heat
switches are extinguished. Then we want to make sure that all the amber lights next to the
probe heat switches are indeed illuminated. For the final test on this panel, flick this test
switch up to see whether the overheat lights are working and then flick the switch down
to make sure that the on lights are working as intended as well. With that all done, go
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ahead and flick all 4 of the window heat lights to the on position and note that the green
on lights above them do indeed come on. Coming down to the icing panel, make sure that
none of the lights are illuminated and that both the wing and engine anti-ice switches are
turned to the off position. Finally, coming down to the hydraulic panel, make sure that the
low pressure lights above all the switches are illuminated and that the engine hydraulic
pumps are turned on and the electrical hydraulic pumps are turned off. Additionally, also
make sure that the low pressure lights above all the switches are indeed illuminated but
the overheat lights above the electrical hydraulic switches are extinguished, which they
are in this case. Alright, with that done, we’re going to skip the cockpit voice recorder
and the pressure monitoring panel underneath and move straight to the final column on
the right of the forward overhead panel.
Air Conditioning and Pressurization
So, here we have the internal air temperature control panel, where the only thing we’re
going to do is to turn on this trim air switch. Again, if you need a detailed understanding
of what the trim air system does in conjunction with all of the other primary subsystems
within the aircraft, I highly recommend you to check out all of the previous episodes of
this series. Anyways, once that’s done, we’re going to come down to this main air
conditioning panel and manipulate a few switches. So, starting from the top, we’re going
to make sure that the left and right recirculation fans are set to the auto position. Coming
down to the packs, we’re going to move both of them to the auto position as well like so.
While on the ground, we’re also going to leave the isolation valve switch in the middle to
the open position, which is the downmost position as you can see on screen here. Finally,
coming all the way down to this trio of bleed air switches, make sure that the engine
bleeds are indeed on and then switch the APU bleed switch down to the on position as
well. What this does is to allow the bleed air produced by the APU we just started to
enter the PACK system and the mix manifold system to be conditioned using the trim air
to eventually be introduced into the cabin as temperature-controlled air for breathing and
comfort. So, that brings us to the last panel on this rightmost column on the forward
overhead panel which is this pressurization panel. So again, starting from the top, we’re
going to dial in our cruising altitude for today’s flight in this flight altitude display, which
is 35000 feet in this case. Next up, in the landing altitude display, we’re actually going to
go ahead and dial in the altitude of our departure airport, as we might be required to circle
around and land back at San Francisco in case of an emergency, so as seen on airport
charts, that altitude is around 13 feet and the display itself only changes in increments of
50, so we can leave the display to 0 in this case. While on this panel, also make sure that
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the pressurization valve switch is in the middle position and the system itself is switched
to the auto position.
Lights and Engine Master
Coming down to the external lights and engine master strip, from left to right, make sure
that all landing lights are off and the runway turnoff and taxi lights are off as well. In the
middle, make sure that both the engine start switches are set to the middle auto position
and that the engine igniter switch is either set to left or right. Make sure it’s not in both
position by any chance. Coming to the right, if you’re flying at night or during poor
visibility conditions, make sure to turn on the logo light. Moving right, make sure that the
position light is in the steady position, as we set it at the start of the previous episode.
Finally, make sure that the anti-collision light, the wing light and the wheel-well lights
are all off.
Forward Panels Introduction
So with all of those steps completed, we have now finished configuring the overhead
panel. At this time, pilots would normally contact the clearance delivery controller at the
airport and request for their departure clearance. Additionally, they will also note down
the ATIS information, which we covered in detail in the previous episode of this series,
so go check that out if you haven’t already. So next up, we’re going to be taking a look at
the forward panels to prep the aircraft for eventually starting the engines.
MCP and EFIS
So, starting off, we’re going to head into this mode control panel and turn on both the
flight director switches. So since we’re flying from the left side today, we’re going to
turn on the left flight director first and then the right one. This is because of the slave and
master concept, however, you can learn more about that in episode 5 of this series. Next
up, we’re going to this EFIS panel and set some important information here. So, as you
can see on the procedure checklist, we’re going to go ahead and enter the minimums for
the departure aerodrome, so the minimums for our departure runway 28R as you can see
is 213 feet radio and 200 feet in baro. So simply go and set the back knob here to the
radio mode and use the front knob to set 213 feet on the PFD like so. Next up, let’s come
to this knob on the right here and set the QNH or altimeter setting to 2990, which is the
current altimeter setting based on the ACARS data we received in the previous episode.
Once both of these are done, do the same thing on the first officer’s display and the
standby display as well, but doing it for the captain is enough if you’re flying from this
seat.
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Oxygen, Clock and Displays
Next up, we’re going to set a few other miscellaneous instruments on the forward panels,
so starting off with the oxygen system, simply go ahead and press this test switch to
verify the flow of oxygen within the pilot’s masks. Next up, let’s make sure that the
captain’s digital clock shows the current local time and not the zulu time, which is pretty
easy to do using this button cycle between the local and zulu time as well as the date.
Next up, we’re going to make sure that the display select switches are both set to the
normal position, so as to show the PFD on the outboard display unit, the ND on the
inboard display unit and other normal display configurations. Moving to the right, we’re
going to flick the disengage light test up to test system 1 and down to test system 2 and
make sure that all of the lights are indeed illuminating. Finally, here, we’re also going to
make sure that the flight instruments are checked, so make sure you don’t have any
yellow flags suggesting caution indications, make sure that the FMA or flight mode
annunciator on top of the PFD is blank and also make sure that the main autopilot status
mode reads FD or flight directors, thereby showing that the flight directors are indeed on.
Of course, pilots would test all of the aforementioned systems individually on either side,
but in the interest of time, we’re only testing one side.
First officer’s Side
Next up, we’re going to head over to the first officer’s side and make sure that the ground
proximity warning system has all of the guards closed on it and the inoperative light is
extinguished. You may also perform the full exhaustive GPWS test if you please, but
since we already saw that in episode 3 of this series, I won’t be performing it again in this
video. Coming back up, we’re again going to make sure that the landing gear is set to the
down position and the three green lights are illuminated to signify that the undercarriage
is down and locked. Coming to the left, we’re going to turn the autobrake system to the
RTO or rejected takeoff mode to be able to apply maximum brakes to come to a stop
in-case of an emergency during the takeoff roll. More info on that in episode 6 of this
series. We’re then going to verify that the anti-skid inoperative light is extinguished and
that the engine display control panel is set. So make sure that the N1 setting is auto, the
V-speed setting is also auto and the fuel flow switch is set to this middle ‘rate’ position.
Next up, go over to this MFD panel and press this engine button once to get an
exhaustive list of engine indications on the LDU.
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Central Pedestal
Alright so the last set of tasks for the first officer in the preflight procedure require for us
to come back to this central pedestal we looked at in episode 2 of this series. So, to start
off, we’re going to go ahead and press this test button on the cargo fire panel to make
sure that the appropriate lights and alarms are working as intended like so. Next up, we’re
going to make sure that the radio tuning panel is set. So if you’re flying with ATC, you
would make sure that you have the appropriate ground or tower frequency dialed into the
standby radios over here. However, since we’re not flying with any ATC, we’re only
going to be configuring the nav radios over here. So we’re going to enter the ILS
frequency for runway 28R at San Francisco into these displays, which as you can see is
111.7. The reason for this is again for redundancy in case we have some sort of
emergency right after takeoff that requires us to perform a traffic pattern around the
airport and return back to the runway. Finally, we’re going to come down to this
transponder panel and make sure that the squawk code is entered as required and the
appropriate TCAS system is also set. For now, we’re going to leave the squawk code to
2000 and the TCAS system to standby.
Preflight Procedure Intro (Captain)
Alright so next up in the procedure checklist, we have the preflight procedure for the
captain. So in real life, the captain and the first officer both set their side of the flight
deck individually, however, we simmers don’t have the luxury of having a copilot and
must do everything ourselves. So a lot of the items on the captain’s preflight procedure
are similar to the first officer’s that we’ve just completed so I’ll be ignoring them in the
interest of time and skipping straight to the new items that need to be checked. With that
out of the way, let’s get into the captain’s preflight procedure checks.
Preflight Procedure (Captain)
So, starting off, we make sure that the nosewheel steering switch guard is closed. Next,
we’re going to come to these status indications and make sure that the stabilizer out of
trim light is indeed extinguished. Coming further right, make sure that the standby
instruments are set, so make sure that the artificial horizon has the correct altimeter
setting in place, in this case 29.90 inches of mercury as mentioned before. Also check the
standby RMI and make sure that the two needles are set to VOR or ADF modes as
needed. Next up, we’re going to come back to this throttle quadrant, and make sure that
the speedbrake lever is pushed down all the way to the down detent. Make sure that the
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reverse thrust levers behind the main thrust levers are all the way down and are
disengaged and speaking of the main thrust levers, make sure they are also pulled all the
way back to the idle position and that they are closed. Finally on this throttle quadrant,
make sure that the flap lever is set to 0 degrees and check to make sure that the analogue
gauge on the forward panel agrees with that flap position, which it does in this case as it
reads ‘up’. Once that’s all done, we’re going to come back behind the throttle quadrant
and check a couple of things, starting with the parking brake, so make sure that is set.
Next up, make sure that both the engine start levers are in their appropriate cutoff
position. Finally, make sure that both the stabilizer trim cutout switches are set to the
normal position and the metal guards in front of them are indeed in place to prevent them
from accidentally moving to the cutout position. And that’s that for the captain’s preflight
procedure.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this aircrafts dissected episode,
covering both the captain’s and the first officer’s preflight procedures. If you’ve made it
this far, congratulations, you now have a sound understanding of how to appropriately
flows in the 737-800 flight deck to monitor the various correct positions of knobs and
switches on the forward overhead panels. Additionally, you also know how to perform
various tests across the flight deck and prepare the aircraft for engine start. That being
said, the next episode in this series will finally have us pushback from the gate and start
the engines to get ready for taxi. Now I must also mention that all of the documentation
and websites I used to research for this video are linked down below in the description,
including a written text version of this entire video, if you prefer to read those and
understand more about this aircraft. If you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform
a full stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button and press the bell icon for
future notifications from this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let
me know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for
flying by!
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CHAPTER 11: PUSHBACK AND ENGINE START
PROCEDURE
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 11
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome back to another episode in
my Aircrafts Dissected Series, where we delve into every single switch, knob and display
in the flight deck of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. So, in the previous video, we took a
look at the preflight procedure for both the captain as well as the first officer. In this
video, we’re going to be taking a look at the engine start procedure and then eventually
also push-back from the gate to get ready for taxi and takeoff. Lastly, I would also like to
address a few other points that aren’t exactly related to this episode, but are indeed
related to this series as well as the direction this channel will take in the near future. So if
you simply wish to get into the meat of the video, skip to this time-stamp on screen here;
if not, keep on watching. So firstly, I want to address my absence for the last week. If
you’re a regular viewer of the series, you might have noticed that I actually haven’t
posted for around 2 weeks now, and I didn’t even inform you, which is inconsistent and
unprofessional on my part, so I just wanted to apologize for that. Next up, for the rest of
the series, the videos will all be coming out much more consistently, so as to compensate
for the lack of videos for the past 2 weeks and also because I will be scripting the entire
rest of the series together in order to record and edit everything in one fell swoop. Finally,
I wanted to also address the arrival of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on the market and
specifically talk about the direction this channel will take to cater to that content. So, I
would like to clarify that NO, I will not be moving exclusively to MSFS 2020 for all
future content on my channel and there are several other well-developed aircraft and
tutorial-worthy topics available on X-plane 11 that I would like to tackle first. That being
said though, I will be covering some aspects of MSFS 2020, simply because it’s new and
I am as excited as anyone else who’s been an avid simmer for a long time for this new
generation of flight sim to hit the market. So in conclusion, you can expect to see content
on MSFS 2020 on this channel, but I just want to reiterate the non-exclusivity of that
content on FlyBy Simulations. With that all said, let’s leave the formalities aside and
jump into the flight deck and start with the before start procedure on the Zibo 737.
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Passenger Boarding & Flt. Deck Door
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800. As
you can see, all of the switches, lights and panel states are set to the exact same position
as they were in the previous episode, so we’re pretty much ready to get started with the
Before-start procedure. Now before we do anything, let’s start boarding the passengers
onto the plane. So simply come down to this EFB and click on this Start flight leg option.
You will probably hear a few passengers boarding the aircraft as well as hear the flight
attendants greeting them in the back. Moving to the actual before start procedure, the first
item we have on the list is to make sure that the flight deck door is closed and locked.
Now you can do this manually by manipulating the door handle behind the pilots or you
can use an amazing, immersive feature present within the Zibo mod that basically makes
the flight attendants close the door for you and also wish you to have a good flight. This
is triggered by the anti-collision light, which we will start later on in the procedure
checklist, so we’ll leave the flight deck door open and unlocked for now.
CDU Revisited
Next up, we have a few more actions to perform within the CDU that we programmed in
episode 9 of this series. Now one thing to note is that in the detailed FMC programming
video I did, I only explained the very important parts of programming the on-board
computers to be ready for flight. This was done in order to not make the entire process
even more overwhelming than it already is by introducing too many new concepts at
once. However, now that you guys have a sound understanding of how to program the
FMC, I would like to introduce you guys to another important page on the CDU known
as the legs page, wherein pilots will find every waypoint on their route and will also see
specific speed constraints, altitude restrictions, headings and distances between
waypoints. In this case, we’re going to be using the legs page to be able to see our entire
planned route on the ND. So, in order to do this, simply go up to the EFIS panel and
switch this ND mode selector knob to plan mode. Also, set the range selector knob to 20
nautical miles to be able to see each waypoint. Next up, what I like to do to make it easier
to follow along the plan is to go down to these display selector knobs and move this
navigation display down from the in-board display unit to the lower display unit, right
next to the CDU. Finally, we then come down to this CDU and click on this legs page
button and voila, as you can see, we see a full list of constraints, headings as well as
distances between all of the waypoints on our route today. So the specific indication we
want to focus on here is this ‘step’ indication, which, when pressed, allows pilots to step
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through their route from waypoint to waypoint and follow that along this pink line on the
ND here. As you can see, each time I press this button adjacent to the ‘step’ indication,
the ND moves a little, so as to show a progression from waypoint to waypoint. We just
want to make sure that we have no abnormal turns or weird routings in the middle of our
route and step through the route. Now once we get to page 3 of the legs page, we come to
the final stages of our arrival procedure into Los Angeles. Here, I want to specifically
focus on this VECTOR indication here. Now note that this is not actually a waypoint but
is instead an indication to the pilots that after this Sierra Mike Oscar or SMO waypoint,
the pilots should expect approach vectors or directions from ATC to guide the aircraft to
the start of the ILS approach in order for the aircraft to capture the localizer and
glideslope and land on runway 25L. More info on what a localizer and glideslope is in
episode 5 of this series. As you can see, this pink vector line essentially travels
indefinitely parallel to the runway. Hence, in our case, since we won’t be travelling with
ATC, we’ll be self-vectoring ourselves. This means that we will deactivate the LNAV
and VNAV modes at this point and make a base leg turn at around this point in order to
hit this HUNDA waypoint at 3600 feet and then turn once again for our final approach to
runway 25L. Alright, so once we’ve taken a look at our entire routing and are satisfied
with it, we’ll go ahead and set the captain’s CDU to the takeoff page by clicking on this
route button and then going over to the takeoff page like so. On the first officer’s CDU,
we’ll set the legs page so now we have the two most important indications for the takeoff
sequence right in front of us. Next up, simply come up to this display selector knob and
move the lower DU knob to the normal position and also set the ND mode selector knob
back to the map view. Additionally, at this point we will also verify that we see the N1
bugs on the upper display units as well as the indicated airspeed bugs on the PFD, which
we can just about see our V-speeds here, so we’re good to go.
MCP
Next up, we’re going to be configuring the MCP or mode control panel for flight. So as
seen on the Kennair checklist, we’ll be setting the V2 speed into the IAS mach display
over here so as to give the aircraft a maximum speed during the takeoff procedure. Then
we’ll come over to both the LNAV and VNAV switches here and arm them. Note that if
the LNAV switch doesn’t arm, that is perfectly normal, as some departure procedures
have very tight turns right after takeoff which require the pilots to put the aircraft on the
right course to intercept the LNAV path before it can be captured, so you should be able
to arm it above 400 feet AGL. In our case though, we have a straight our departure, so we
have armed it successfully. At this point, we will also turn on the autothrottle system,
which will allow us to engage Takeoff and go around thrust during takeoff. Now different
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airlines engage the autothrottle switch at different times, and this is completely dependent
on SOPs or standard operating procedures, but I like to engage it now so we don’t have to
worry about it later on during the taxi. Next up, we’re going to come over to the heading
display and set the runway heading in here which is 284 degrees as we saw in episode 9
of this series, so put that in there and finally, we put the initial altitude in the altitude
display. Now normally, ATC will issue the initial altitude to the aircraft, but since we’re
flying without ATC today, we’ll basically be climbing to the top altitude for our Standard
Instrument Departure procedure: the WESLA4 departure, which happens to be 3000 feet.
I’ll show you where to find this in the Taxi and Takeoff Brief.
Taxi and Takeoff Brief
So, speaking of the taxi and takeoff brief, let’s conduct it now. Now in real life, the
purpose of this briefing is to allow both the pilot flying and the pilot monitoring to be on
the same page regarding the predicted taxi route, emergency procedures in case of
medical problems on board, engine failures during or after takeoff and so on. In our case,
I’ll take this opportunity to show you our taxi route from our gate to the runway as well
as our departure procedure from the airport. We don’t really need to worry about any
failures or problems as this is a simulator and we’re assuming we’re flying a standard
point-to-point flight between two large international airports.
Alright, so welcome to the Navigraph Charts application where we have access to
aerodrome charts for the entire earth. So what you’re seeing in the background is a
top-down airport layout for San Francisco. As you can see, this pink arrow represents our
current position, so our mission is to get from our parked position here at Gate D12 to
runway 28R all the over here. Now these letters you see over here all represent taxiways.
Now thankfully, since this region of the terminal is rather cluttered, the chart itself has
magnified this position over here. So we’re going to push back and get onto this Alpha
taxiway first. Then, our plan is to travel straight on Alpha for a bit and then get onto this
Foxtrot taxiway. As you can see, this taxiway will take us all the way to the end of
runway 28L here at the eastern part of the airport. Additionally, you also see that we’re
going to be crossing two runways while we taxi on Foxtrot, so I’ll be giving you guys
some tips about taxi procedures and restrictions when we eventually get around to that.
Finally, we will take this charlie intersection/taxiway and cross runway 28L at the very
end and get on to runway 28R for a full length departure from San Francisco. I hope that
was clear to you guys but if it wasn’t, then it should be made clear when we actually do
the taxi procedure. If not, you can leave questions below in the comments section and I
will be glad to help you guys out. Next up, we have our departure procedure, so let’s get
into it.
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Departure Procedure
Alright, so here we have the WESLA 4 Departure Procedure. So, I’m going to be going
through this pretty quickly, as I only want to cover the most important bits and nothing
more. So, as you can see, we’ll be flying on a runway heading 284° as we depart
northwest towards the pacific. Then we hit Welsa at or above 2000 feet at a maximum
speed of 230 knots. We then take a left turn direct to the PORTE and we continue
climbing slowly to our cruising altitude. After PORTE we head southeast to SUSEY
while flying parallel to the San Francisco Bay Area and following the Pacific Coastline
and we eventually get to EBAYE, which is our departure transition if you remember from
previous episodes. At EBAYE, we expect to already be at our cruising altitude of 35000
feet, after which, we will resume our normal route southwards towards Los Angeles.
Finally, if we come down to this information placard at the bottom right, we see our top
altitude listed here, which is 3000 feet, hence why it was dialed into the altitude display
on the MCP previously in the episode. Alright, with the departure procedure explained,
let’s get back into the flight deck and configure the aircraft for engine-start.
Finishing up Before Start Procedure
Alright, so the final few actions occur on the forward overhead panel, so let’s head up
there and start flicking some switches as per the procedure checklist. So we’re going to
come up here and first verify that the exterior doors are all closed. So make sure that none
of these lights are illuminated. Next up, we’re going to come to this fuel control panel
and switch all of the wing-tank fuel pumps on. Verify that the low pressure lights above
the switches do indeed extinguish when these switches are moved to their on position.
Since we’re not carrying any fuel in the center tanks, we’ll leave the center pumps off.
We’ll then come over to the right and turn on both the electrical hydraulic pumps as well.
As you can see, that extinguishes the low pressure lights above the switches as well as the
two low pressure indications up on the flight control panel on the top-left here. Finally,
we’ll turn on the anti-collision light over here, which will activate the red blinking light
on the top and bottom of the aircraft fuselage so as to signify to ground crew that we are
about to start the engines. Additionally, this will also make the flight attendants come and
close the flight deck door and wish us to have a good flight. Now with all done, let’s
prepare for pushback from the gate.
Pushback Procedure
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So ladies and gentlemen, for the pushback procedure, I highly recommend you guys to
install the Better Pushback plugin for free from the X-plane forums. It is regarded as one
of the best plugins for X-plane 11 and also has native support for the Zibo 737-800. Once
downloaded, simply come up to this menu bar on top, hover over plugins, then over
better pushback and select start pushback. As you can see, we have a top-down map of
our aircraft. Now this isn’t a comprehensive tutorial for Better Pushback, but basically,
you can take the aircraft and position it to face outwards from the terminal building like
so and hit enter. As you can see, the tow will slowly drive up to the aircraft and insert a
bypass pin into the nosewheel of the aircraft to lift it up and push us back to the right
position. The theory behind this bypass pin is that it allows the nosewheel’s turn radius to
increase from 78° towards the left or right to upto 95 degrees to either side. This is
especially useful during pushback in order to make tight turns around the apron or
terminal, however, the pin must be removed after pushback has finished to restrict the
nose wheel turn movement to only the forward 78 degree radius. Don’t worry, all of this
will be automatically done by the pushback driver. All you have to do is monitor it.
Parking Brake Release and Engine Start.
Alright, so as per the instructions of the pushback driver, we will go ahead and release the
parking brake, which will start the pushback procedure. Now one thing to note is that in
real life, we would normally ask for pushback clearance and the driver would tell us if we
are allowed to start our engines after the pushback, during the pushback, or only start
individual engines during the pushback procedure. In our case, we will be starting both
engines after the pushback has been completed. No special reason for this, just want to
explain the pushback procedure and the engine start procedure separately without
overlapping or missing out on any concepts. Now right before we release the parking
brakes and start the pushback, I like to start the first officer’s clock right now to be able
to track the total time taken to get from our gate at San Francisco to our gate at Los
Angeles. This is an optional step however, so feel free to skip it if you so please. With
that all said, let’s go ahead and release the parking brakes now and allow the driver to
push us back to our desired position. So as you heard, the pushback driver has instructed
us to set the parking brakes so he can disconnect from the aircraft. We’ll go ahead and do
that just now. So once we disengage the parking brake, he will gently set the aircraft back
down and we then get an option to either disconnect the pushback tug and get a hand
signal or reconnect the tug if we wish to get pushed back in a different direction for
whatever reason. In our case, let’s go ahead and disconnect the tug by pressing on this
button right here. Alright, once he disconnects, we want to make sure that the tug is well
clear of the aircraft and as he said, we will get a hand signal on the right, which is
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basically him visually showing us that he has disconnected the bypass pin. So what
you’re seeing here is the pushback driver showing us that he has indeed taken out the
bypass pin from our nose wheel landing gear. So, now that we’ve verified all that, we are
cleared to start our engines.
Engine Start Procedure
According to the engine start procedure, we make sure we have the engine display
selected on the lower display unit, which we do. Next up, we will turn off the packs,
which will direct all of the bleed air produced by the APU into the engines to spin them
up to their idle speed before injecting fuel into them. So let’s go up to the overhead panel
and turn these packs off. Once that’s done, we’ll come down to the right engine start
selector switch and switch it to ground mode. As you can see, the N2 readout on the
Lower DU begins to rise. We want to wait for it to get to 25% N2, which is the high
pressure spool within the engines. While we wait, you can also hear the faint rumble of
the engine starting up in the background. As it gets to 25%, we will go ahead and inject
fuel into the engine by moving the engine start lever from the cutoff position to the idle
position. As you can see, that also ramps up the N1 and N2 readouts. At this point,
continue monitoring the N2 readout as well as the fuel flow and the EGT of the right
engine. When the engine stabilizes, you’ll hear a starter cutout and see that the engine
start switch has gone back to the automatic position. Once the engine has been started
successfully, make sure that the the N2 value is somewhere between 58.1-58.4%, also
make sure that the fuel flow for the engine is close to around 620-640 pounds per hour
and the EGT doesn’t get too high - somewhere near 400 degrees is just fine. So, now that
we’ve successfully started the right engine, we’ll perform all of the same steps for the left
one as well. However, this time, I’ll be quiet and include text on screen to help you
follow along as you hear, see and experience the engine starting up.
Conclusion
Alright ladies and gentlemen, with that, we have successfully started both engines, In the
next episode, we’ll be taking a look at the taxi and takeoff procedure where we will take
this aircraft from here to runway 28R and also takeoff from the runway. I’m going to
keep this conclusion short as I want the transition from this episode to the next to be as
seamless as possible, so if you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform a full
stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button and press the bell icon for future
notifications from this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let me
know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for flying
by!
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CHAPTER 12: TAXI AND TAKEOFF PROCEDURE
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 12
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the sixth episode in the
full flight portion of this Aircrafts Dissected Series, where we delve into every switch,
knob and display in the flight deck of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. So, in the previous
episode, we completed the engine start and pushback procedure and in this one, the main
highlights, as you can probably tell from the title and thumbnail of this video are going to
be the taxi and takeoff procedure. So without further adieu, let’s jump into the flight deck
and get started.
Before Taxi Procedure (Forward Overhead Panel)
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800 and
as you can see, as usual, the buttons, knobs and panel states have been set to the exact
same position that they were in the previous episode. So, with the engines started, let’s
get into the before taxi procedure to get the aircraft ready for, well you guessed it, taxi!
So again, let’s head over to the overhead panel and start flicking some switches as per the
Kennair checklist. So first things first, we’re going to start drawing electrical power from
the engine generators, so simply come down to the bus transfer and electrical source
selector panel and flick both the engine generators down to power either side of the flight
deck, just like we did for the APU in the previous episodes of this series. As you can see,
the APU bus light comes on automatically, signifying that we have the APU also
available to use as our power source, but since we now have both the engines providing
power, we no longer need the APU. Additionally, just like the APU startup procedure,
we’ll go up to the AC and DC power monitoring panel and switch the DC knob to TR1 to
see if we’re getting the right electrical indications from the 1st transformer rectifier unit
and we’ll also switch this AC knob to the Gen 1 position to see if the electrical generators
in the first engine are indeed providing ample power for normal aircraft operation. Again,
if you don’t know what a transformer rectifier unit is or what any of these panels and
knobs are, I highly encourage you to watch the previous 11 episodes of the series.
Alright, next up, we’re going to go up to the external heating panel and turn on both the
probe heat switches. If you remember from episode 1, this system is responsible for
providing power to the sensitive equipment on the outside of the aircraft such as pitot
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tubes and guided Alpha vanes. As you can see, turning them on gets rid of the amber
lights on either side of the two switches, thereby signifying that the systems are working
as intended. Coming further down, we don’t want to make any changes to either the wing
or engine anti-ice, as it’s a nice warm day here in San Francisco without any signs of
visible moisture around. Next up, coming to the right, we’re going to go over to the air
conditioning panel and turn the PACK systems back to auto so they can resume air
circulation within the cabin for passenger comfort. While we’re here, let’s also turn the
isolation valve from the downmost ‘on’ position now to the middle ‘auto’ position. This
will allow the pneumatic and air-conditioning systems within the aircraft to automatically
handle the passage of air and its circulation throughout various regions of the aircraft.
Next up, we’re going to turn off the APU because as mentioned before, we no longer
need it since the engines are providing both bleed air as well as acting as an electrical
power source. So the first thing we’re going to do is to restrict the bleed air being
produced by the APU from entering the cabin. To do this, simply turn off the APU bleed
switch over here, as you can see the dual bleed light up here automatically extinguishes,
thereby signifying that there is now only 1 source of bleed air in the aircraft, namely the
engines. Next up, come over to the main APU switch and turn it to the off position, which
will completely turn off the APU. The final action to perform on the forward overhead
panel is to go ahead and turn the engine start switches to the ‘continuous’ mode. As
mentioned in previous episodes, this prevents the engines from accidentally turning off
due to electrical surges or heavy precipitation as it arms the engine ignitors continuously.
And that’s that for the forward overhead panel.
Before Taxi Procedure (Miscellaneous)
So next up, we’re going to come down here to the throttle quadrant and verify that both
the main thrust levers are in their idle position, which means that they are pulled all the
way to the back. Then, we verify that all ground equipment connected to the aircraft is
indeed clear, which we already did in the previous episode, so nothing to do there. Finally
on the throttle quadrant, we’re going to go ahead and set the flaps for takeoff. So, if you
remember from episode 9 of this series, our flap position for takeoff was going to be 5
degrees, so simply move this flap lever to this 5 detent. I personally have the flaps
mapped to a button on my throttle quadrant setup, so I don’t have to use the mouse to
drag and drop the flap lever. I suggest you guys do the same as it can be very
inconvenient to always have to focus on the actual flap lever to be able to manipulate it.
As you can see from one of the right passenger windows, the flaps do indeed droop down
to a lower position, thereby increasing the surface area of the wing and allowing the
aircraft to fly at lower speeds. Alright, so once we’re done with that, we’ll go ahead and
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conduct the flight control check, which involves testing the full range of movement of all
of the physical, movable surfaces within the aircraft. So in order to do this, simply come
over to this MFD panel and press this system button, which as you can see, will provide a
live representation of every movable surface within the aircraft on the lower display unit.
So, we’ll go ahead and test all movements one by one, starting with the ailerons, so turn
the stick full left, and as you can see, the appropriate ailerons and spoilers are moving as
intended to be able to make a ‘full left’ turn. Next, we’ll go full right, again, making sure
that we have proper movement of all of the flight surfaces as intended. Neutral, full up,
now make sure the elevator is getting pushed up all the way and full down. Finally, we’re
also going to test the rudder, so rudder full left and rudder full right. There we go, the
flight control check has been completed. Once this is done, we’re going to make this
Lower display unit blank by again going up to this MFD and pressing the engine button
twice. The first press switches the Lower DU from the system page to the engine page
and the second press provides a condensed version of engine indications on the upper DU
while making the lower DU blank. The reason we like to keep the lower DU blank
throughout the flight is because any problems, faults or failures with the engines or flight
control systems always appear on the lower display unit, and if the lower DU is blank, the
entire screen will light up when there is a problem as compared to only a part of it if
lighting up when the lower DU was left on. Essentially, having an entire screen come on
has a much higher chance of grabbing the pilot’s attention as compared to a small
indication appearing on an already complicated and lit up page. Hope that makes sense.
Finally, the next item is something I missed in the before start procedure in the previous
video, which is setting the trim for takeoff. Again, I have this button mapped to some
buttons on my real, physical joystick, but simply come down to this trim wheel and set
the trim value stated on the takeoff page on the CDU. The value doesn’t need to be exact,
just around the right value should be just fine. Alright, with that all done, let’s come over
to this light strip on the forward overhead panel and turn on the taxi light over here.
Furthermore, if you’re flying at night, I also recommend turning on these runway turnoff
lights as well as the logo and wing lights, but since we’re flying during daytime, I’m
going to keep those off for now. Finally, come back to the main forward panels and press
this recall button to make sure that all systems are working as intended. And that’s that
for the before taxi checklist.
Taxi Procedure (Part 1)
Alright, with that all done, let’s begin taxiing to the runway. Now if you guys want to
know how I predicted my path to the runway and what our plan for the departure
procedure is going to be for today’s flight, make sure to go watch the previous video, as
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that has all the information regarding the taxi and takeoff procedure. That being said, I
will try to put a little live schematic of our entire taxi route on screen for you guys to be
able to follow along the route as we go from taxiway to taxiway and eventually get to
runway 28R. So let’s go down here and release the parking brake. Next up, advance the
thrust levers a tad bit, maybe to around 27-30% N1 just to provide the aircraft with a little
bit of an initial kick so that it begins to roll on the tarmac. As you can see, the aircraft has
started to move. Now the specific indication that I would like you guys to keep an eye on
is this GS or ground speed indication on the top-left of this ND. This is your exact
taxi-speed and you want to keep it below 30 knots at all times when taxiing. However,
note that you can only travel on the ground at 30 knots when you’re on a straight stretch.
During turns for example, you must restrict the speed to below 15 knots and for tighter
turns, try and restrict the speed to below 10 knots just to be safe. As you can see, we have
taken a right here as mentioned in the previous episode and will soon be transitioning
from this Alpha taxiway we’re on right now to the Foxtrot taxiway. Again, try not to keep
advancing and retracting the thrust levers during taxi. Try and find a thrust setting that
provides constant momentum while not going too fast or too slow. The more you taxi, the
more you’ll learn, so feel free to play around the thrust setting as you please.
Taxi Procedure (Part 2)
Okay, as you can see on the taxi chart, we’ve now transitioned onto the Foxtrot taxiway
from Alpha and I would like to bring your attention to this blinking line on the taxiway
here. This is a runway threshold and signifies to the pilots that there is a runway in front
of the blinking perimeter. As you can see on the airport charts, this is indeed true, as we
have runway 01L and 01R that we need to cross to continue on our route to get to our
departure runway. So in real life, pilots would normally be instructed to stop their taxi
and ‘hold short’ of this runway threshold and contact ATC before crossing the runway.
The ground controller would then either allow the aircraft to cross the runway based on
other traffic on the ground or would instruct them to continue holding short until it is
absolutely safe for the aircraft to continue taxiing. In our case, let’s assume that ATC has
cleared to resume taxi. So, abiding by procedure, the pilots would check both sides of the
runway visually and confirm that there is no departing or arriving traffic. They will then
turn the position light to the strobe and steady position, which will activate the blinking
lights at the tip of each wing, thereby making the aircraft stand out even more when
taxiing across the runway. After these precautionary measures have been taken, simply
resume the taxi. So disconnect the brakes, apply thrust and cross the runways as required.
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Taxi Procedure (Part 3)
So, once we’ve crossed the runways, we just have a straight taxi along Foxtrot to runway
28L. Additionally, at this point, go ahead and turn the position lights back to the steady
position and we’ll restart it when we’re getting onto our departure runway. As we taxi,
another tip I’d like to give you guys to keep the aircraft's nose wheel bang on in the
middle of the taxi line is to keep this fire warning light flush with the taxiway in the main
cockpit view. As you can see, that puts the aircraft bang on the center of the taxiway.
Taxi Procedure (Part 4)
As we approach runway 28L, normally we would stop at the runway threshold and again
get permission from ATC to cross the runway, however, in the interest of time, we’ll just
assume that runway 28L is not in operation right now and we’ll cross it and stop at the
runway threshold for 28R instead.
Before Takeoff Procedure
Alright ladies and gentlemen, we are now stopped at the runway threshold for 28R. So,
let’s run through the takeoff procedure on the Kennair Checklist. Now note that most of
these actions such as turning on the lights or the weather radar are all performed as the
aircraft smoothly gets onto the runway by both the captain and the first officer on a
normal flight. However, for the instructional purposes of this video, we’ll stay behind the
runway threshold and perform all of these items first before getting onto the runway. So,
first thing’s first, let’s go up to the forward overhead panel and alert the cabin crew to let
them know we’re about to take off. You can do this by pressing this attend button right
next to the passenger signs switches. Next up, on the captain’s EFIS panel, we’re going to
turn on the weather mode, so as to see weather returns and rain cells in the distance. On
the first officer’s side, we’ll go ahead and turn on the terrain mode, so we can see our
nearby terrain as we take off on the ND. Next up, I also like to click on this data button
on both sides to be able to get accurate altitude and speed constraint information on the
ND. With that all done, we then come to the actual takeoff procedure, where the first item
on our list is to turn the position lights to the ‘strobe and steady’ position like we did
when crossing those two runways earlier on during the taxi. Next up, we’re going to
come down to this central pedestal and turn on this transponder. So go over to this knob
and turn the TCAS system to TA/RA which stands for Traffic advisory and resolution
advisory, as explained in detail in episode 2 of this series. Finally, go ahead and turn on
all of the runway lights up top. This can be done easily by simply pressing on this little
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shutter on top, which allows you to push all of the lights down at the same time. At this
time, also turn off the taxi light, as we now have the main landing lights illuminating the
front of the aircraft. Finally, we’re also going to go ahead and start the captain’s clock
here to log our actual airtime. With that all done, let’s line up and wait on the runway, so
disconnect the parking brake and get onto the runway.
Takeoff Procedure Explained
Alright, so, before we begin the takeoff sequence, let me give you guys a brief summary
of what’s about to happen, as things happen very fast when we start picking up speed. My
plan therefore is to give a brief summary of the indications I’d like you to pay attention to
and I’ll then actually live commentate the takeoff sequence. So, at the beginning of the
takeoff sequence, we’re going to advance the thrust levers to 40% N1. The reason we do
this is to make sure that we’re getting symmetrical thrust from both engines. After a
second or two, once we establish that the thrust is being provided uniformly by both
engines, we will push the TOGA button. Now the Zibo mod actually has a secret button
right in front of the pilots that you can push to activate this TOGA switch and it is this
Mic button right here. So, once pressed, we’re going to notice that our thrust jumps up to
our N1 bugs that have been set on the upper display unit. You’ll notice that we will begin
moving on the runway and start picking up speed. As we continue down the runway, our
airspeed indicator will come alive and will start reading the appropriate speed indications
on the speed tape here on the PFD. I will call out the speed at 80knots, then at 100 knots,
just as an added reference. As we get close to V1, we will expect our virtual first officer
in the flight to callout V1 and we will go ahead and pull the nose of the aircraft gently
back as we reach our V rotate speed of 143 knots. We will keep increasing our angle of
attack and pitch up to 15 degrees on the artificial horizon. Right after takeoff, I will also
give a callout when we have a positive rate of climb, meaning that the aircraft is properly
climbing without loss of thrust or power. At this point, I will annunciate ‘gear up’ and we
will retract the landing gear of the aircraft. We will hand-fly the departure till about 1000
to 1500 feet, following which, we will go ahead and engage the autopilot. Now normally,
I enjoy flying the departure a little bit longer before handing controls to autopilot, but for
the instructional purposes of this video, I would like to decrease my work-load early on to
be able to explain various procedures to you guys such as flap retraction and such.
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Conclusion
Alright ladies and gentlemen, with that, we have successfully taken off in the Boeing
737-800. In the next episode, we’ll be taking a look at the climb and cruise portion of our
full flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Just like the previous episode, I’ll be
keeping this conclusion short as I want the transition from this episode to the next to be
as seamless as possible, so if you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform a full
stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button and press the bell icon for future
notifications from this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let me
know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for flying
by!
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CHAPTER 13: CLIMB AND CRUISE PROCEDURE
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 13
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the seventh episode in the
full flight portion of this Aircrafts Dissected Series, where we delve into every switch,
knob and display in the flight deck of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. So, in the previous
episode, we covered the taxi and takeoff procedure and in this episode, the main
highlights, as you can probably tell from the title and thumbnail of this video are going to
be the climb and cruise phases of flight from San Francisco to LA. Once again, sorry for
the delay between episodes, the new academic year has now begun for me and managing
university work as well as YouTube can get hard sometimes. However, the good news is
that I have the next 2 episodes after this one already scripted and planned out so they
should be coming out right on schedule. Anyways, with all of that aside, let’s jump into
the flight deck and get started.
Flap Retraction
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome yet again to the flight deck of the 737-800 and as
you can see, the simulator is currently in a paused state as I want to properly walk you
guys through the flap retraction procedure as well as a few other key actions to perform
right after takeoff. So, speaking of flap retraction, the area where pilots would be able to
get an indication as to when to retract the flaps would again be on the PFD or primary
flight display. In essence, the general guidelines for flap retraction dictate that you must
not retract the flaps unless you’re at or above a speed which is your V2 speed, in our case
146 knots plus 15/20 knots. This means that we shouldn’t retract any level of flaps until
reaching at least 161-166 knots in our case. Additionally, another rule also dictates that
you must not retract the flaps before reaching 1000 feet AGL or above ground level. Note
that this is different from 1000 feet above sea level as some airports may be located at
high terrain environments and the ground proximity is what matters in this case. Luckily,
you can simply look at this radio altimeter indication right in the middle of the PFD to get
an accurate indication of what your exact altitude is above ground level. Okay, so coming
to some actual flap indications, I would like to bring your attention to these green
markers on this speed tape over here. As you can see, we currently have two of them with
one reading ‘1’ and the other, at a slightly higher speed reading ‘UP’. These indicate the
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safe flap retraction speeds for our flight specifically which are calculated by the aircraft
in order to facilitate a smooth climb out of the departure airport. Essentially, pilots are
allowed to retract the flaps to the specific degree mentioned on the speed tape when they
are within 20 knots of that speed. So for our example here, our takeoff flap position was 5
degrees; so according to our speed tape, we are allowed to retract the flaps two notches
up to this 1 position as long as we are at or within 20 knots of this speed right here. The
same goes for this UP indication. We are allowed to retract the flaps completely while we
are at or within 20 knots of this speed right here. Now in real life, with a low flap
departure like we had with only 5 degrees of flaps extended, pilots would normally not
retract the flaps in stages and will just fully retract them when they get close enough to
the full ‘UP’ flap retraction speed. So, abiding by procedure, we will be doing the same
thing. As we get close enough, namely within 5-10 knots of the green UP indication on
the speed tape, we will go ahead and retract the flaps completely. And that’s that for the
flap retraction procedure.
Altitude Display Bug Up
Next up, the final thing I want to mention before resuming our fight is our altitude
display on the MCP panel. As you may remember from episode 11 of this series, our
initial altitude for this departure was going to be 3000 feet, which is what we set in the
altitude display on the MCP right here. So, if we get to 3000 feet, regardless of our final
cruising altitude or the various speed and altitude constraints programmed into the FMC
for our route, the aircraft will stop its climb and maintain 3000 feet, since that's a hard
constraint we as pilots have programmed into the FMC. Now if you are flying with ATC,
then yes, it’s perfectly okay to level out at 3000 feet because the controllers know what
they’re doing when regulating traffic both laterally as well as vertically and will
eventually clear you to climb to a higher altitude. However, in our case, since we’re
flying without ATC, there’s no need to level out at 3000 feet and we can continue
climbing up to eventually reach our cruising altitude of 35000 feet. However,
realistically, if we were flying with ATC, we wouldn’t be immediately cleared to our
cruising altitude. They will keep giving us higher altitude as we climb and we’ll
eventually get to FL350. So we’ll do the same. We’ll increase the altitude on this display
up to 10000 feet, then upto 18000 feet - which if you guys remember, is our transition
altitude and finally we’ll bring it up to 35000 feet, so as to simulate a proper climb
procedure if ATC were indeed controlling this airspace. So just as a recap, as soon as we
resume our simulation here, I’m going to increase the altitude on this MCP up to 10000’
and am also going to keep a close eye on the green flap retraction indications on the PFD
and will retract the flaps accordingly. Makes sense? Alright, let’s resume the simulation!
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Initial turn to PORTE
Alright, as you guys can see, the aircraft is trying to maintain 230 knots and on this ND,
we have our initial turn towards the PORTE waypoint. So I’ll shut up and let you guys
enjoy the turn from a wing-view perspective before moving onto the after takeoff
procedure. Alright, so hope you guys enjoyed that beautiful left turn straight after
departure. So, next up, as you can see, we’re getting to 10000 feet pretty quickly. Hence,
we’ll go ahead and dial in the next checkpoint altitude into the altitude display on the
MCP, which was 18000 feet as mentioned before. Another universal aviation rule that I
would like to point out here is the hard speed constraint below 10000 feet, which is 250
knots. So always remember that your aircraft must be at or below 250 knots below
10000 feet. As you can see, we’re nicely maintaining speed on our PFD. So, let’s get into
the after takeoff procedure.
After Takeoff Procedure (Below 10000’)
Alright, so the first thing we’re going to check are the engine bleed switches and the
packs, which should be set to the on’ position and the ‘auto’ position on the forward
overhead panel. Next up, we’re going to switch the engine start switches back to the auto
position from the continuous position, as we don’t have harsh weather near our vicinity at
the moment. Note that if you had visible moisture, heavy precipitation at high flight
levels, then you can continue leaving these switches to the continuous mode until
reaching a safe altitude above the poor weather. Finally, come down to these forward
panels and turn the autobrake switch to the ‘off’ position from the RTO position, as we
have successfully taken off without needing to reject the takeoff. Additionally, we’re also
going to move the main landing gear lever to the middle ‘OFF’ position, which, if you
remember from episode 6 of this series, will depressurize the hydraulics holding the gear
up in the wheel-well bay. And that’s that for the after takeoff procedure before reaching
10000’.
At 10000’
Alright, so as you can see, when we get to 10000’, the aircraft automatically pitches
down and decreases it’s vertical speed to be able to slow down its climb. The aircraft
does this in order to start increasing its speed because now that it’s above 10000 feet the
250 knots speed constraint no longer applies and it can begin speeding up to eventually
get to it’s cruise speed. This is all done automatically, as programmed within the FMC on
the ground and the VNAV or vertical navigation mode correctly plots out a vertical
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profile for the aircraft during the climb. All you have to do is to monitor these parameters
and make sure that nothing is going wrong. So, as we hit 10000 feet, there are a couple of
actions we need to perform within the flight deck. The first thing to do is to turn off all
the landing lights, so simply come up to the forward overhead panel and turn off both the
fixed and retractable landing lights. Additionally, if you had the logo or wing lights on
for departure, you would also turn them off now. Next up, at this point, we can also come
over to the seatbelt signs switch and turn it to auto, so that the aircraft will automatically
turn the seatbelt signs in the passenger cabins on or off depending on the phase of flight.
Next up, we’re simply going to wait to get to our next altitude checkpoint of 18000 feet.
Climb to 18000’
Alright, as we climb to 18000 feet, another action that you guys can perform which is a
good habit to keep in mind is to always keep this heading bug synced with the actual
track the aircraft is flying at all times. Currently, the aircraft is following the LNAV path,
which is allowing the onboard flight computers to direct the aircraft from waypoint to
waypoint on its programmed lateral route. Hence, this number doesn’t really matter too
much at the moment. However, in the event that ATC vectors us to fly in a particular
direction, which can happen relatively fast, you would quickly have to press this heading
select button and turn this knob to the specific heading ATC instructs you to fly to. Now
if you keep this display at any random number, the moment you press this heading select
button, the aircraft will immediately turn to that random direction. Hence, it's a good
habit to keep this number as well as the pink dotted heading line on the ND synced with
the current track of the aircraft, as that will prevent the aircraft from turning to a random
direction and will allow pilots to smoothly transition between the LNAV and manual
heading adjustment modes. Hope that makes sense.
Approaching 18000’
Alright, as we approach 18000 feet, we will again go ahead and increase the altitude on
our altitude display on this MCP all the way up to 35000 feet. So, since we know that
we’re getting to our transition altitude, we’re going to have to switch to the standard
altimeter setting of 29.92 inches of mercury or 1013 hectopascals. Now if you guys want
a detailed explanation of what an altimeter setting is, go ahead and watch the third
episode in this series, where I explain barometric pressure as well as altimeter setting in
detail. So, simply come down to this right knob on this EFIS panel and press on this
middle STD button, which will standardize the altimeter setting. Additionally, now that
we’re safely climbing to our cruising altitude, we no longer need to have the minimums
for the decision height for our departure runway at San Francisco, so simply come over to
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this knob on the left here and press this middle reset button, which will reset the 313 feet
decision height we had inputted previously. With that all done, let’s continue climbing to
35000 feet.
Climb towards 35000 feet
As we continue our climb towards 35000 feet, I’d like to bring your attention to a couple
other things around the cockpit that will help you contextualize the climb and cruise
phase of flight. First up, I’d like to bring your attention to this T/C indication over here
on the ND. Now from previous episodes in the series, you might remember that TC or
ToC stands for Top of climb, which is the point at which we reach our cruising altitude;
in our case: 35000 feet. Now though this TOC indication is good and provides a decent
visual representation of the beginning of our cruise, for more specific information
regarding our estimated time enroute or ETE at different waypoints as well as fuel burn
estimates and such, I would like to introduce you to a new page on the CDU - namely, the
Progress page. So simply come down to the CDU, and as you can see, there is a clearly
labelled button here that reads PROG, so go ahead and click it. That then brings us to the
official progress page of the aircraft, where we see some useful information pertaining to
our lateral and vertical flight path on our route today. At the top, we have the last
waypoint we crossed, including the altitude at which we crossed it as well as the fuel
quantity in the aircraft at the time we crossed it. Underneath that waypoint, we have the
next two waypoints on the route, as well as the distance of those waypoints from our
main reference waypoint over here. Again, you have the fuel quantities that you expect
given current fuel-burn calculations at various waypoints as well as ETEs for those
waypoints in Zulu time or UTC. Now the specific indication we want to take a look at is
this ‘To T/C’ indication at the bottom left here, which shows the distance between the
aircraft and the predicted top of climb point at any time in nautical miles here.
Additionally, we also see our time of arrival in Zulu time as well as the aircraft’s fuel
quantity when we reach it. Now the reason why I wanted to introduce you guys to this
page now is because it becomes very useful for descent planning. As we reach the top of
climb point in our route, this indication turns from showing us our distance to the top of
climb to the top of descent instead. Hence, we can then calculate when to put a lower
altitude in the altitude display on the MCP, when to select flaps and reference speeds for
arrival and also adjust our autobrake setting. More on that in the next episode of the
series, where we cover the descent and approach phase in detail. Additionally, I should
also mention that there are more options under this progress page, but since this is just a
standard point to point flight, I’m only covering the basics. If you want a more detailed
tutorial on this FMC, make sure to leave me a comment down below letting me know and
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I would be happy to oblige and make an episode like that for you. Anyways, with that
being said, let’s continue our climb to 35000 feet.
At 35000 feet
Alright ladies and gentlemen, we’ve now successfully reached our cruising altitude of
35000 feet. As you can see, the aircraft will now arrest it’s climb and will maintain this
altitude until we reach our top of descent point, following which we will begin our
descent towards Los Angeles. At this point, you will also notice on the upper display unit
that the speed bugs read Crz which stands for cruise, which means that the N1 speed of
our engines are being dictated by the cruise mode that was calculated by the on-board
flight management computers. Additionally, the speed mode on the FMA on this PFD
right here will now read FMC SPD instead of N1, thereby highlighting that the aircraft is
trying to maintain the specific speed programmed into the FMC for the cruise portion of
this flight. I must also mention at this point that the cruise phase of flight is probably the
most relaxed phase of flight. During this time, pilots would normally converse among
themselves and check the fuel-burn and estimated time enroute calculations provided by
the aircraft against their originally filed Operational Flight Plan. Additionally, in real life,
pilots would keep tuning different air traffic control frequencies as they move across
different sectors and centers, however, since we’re flying without ATC today, simply sit
in the flight deck and enjoy the views. Also, it is at this time during long flights when us
flight simmers can actually get off our seats and do some other work, household chores
and such as this phase of flight is even more uneventful in a sim environment than it is in
real life. With all that said, that concludes the climb and cruise phase of flight.
Conclusion
Alright ladies and gentlemen, with that, we have successfully finished climbing to our
cruising altitude. In the next episode, we’ll be taking a look at the descent and approach
portion of our full flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Just like the previous
episode, I’ll be keeping this conclusion short as I want the transition from this episode to
the next to be as seamless as possible, so if you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to
perform a full stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button and press the bell
icon for future notifications from this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments
section and let me know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. As
usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 14: INITIAL DESCENT AND APPROACH
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 14
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the eighth episode in the
full flight portion of this Aircrafts Dissected Series, where we delve into every switch,
knob and display in the flight deck of the Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. So, in the previous
episode, we covered the climb and cruise phase of flight and in this episode, the main
highlights, as you can probably tell from the title and thumbnail of this video are going to
be taking a look at the initial descent planning and approach phases of flight. So without
further adieu, let’s jump into the flight deck and get started.
Intro to Flight Deck
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800 and
as you can see we’re still in the cruise phase of flight, but will be approaching our top of
descent point very soon, following which we will begin our descent into Los Angeles. So,
before we begin manipulating any switches or panels inside the flight deck itself, let’s
plan for our arrival like we did for our departure by looking at approach plates and
aerodrome charts for our arrival at KLAX.
Reminders
Alright, so just as a reminder to all those of you who haven’t seen the flight planning
episode in this series, our arrival procedure into Los Angeles is going to be the SADDE8
STAR, or standard terminal arrival and our arrival runway is going to be 25L.
Additionally, our final parking gate is going to be gate 25 as seen at the beginning of the
flight planning episode in the series. Now the way I like to start planning our descent is to
plan backwards. What I mean by that is to first identify our parking gate, so our final
position at Los Angeles where we will set our parking brake and shut down our engines
and work our way back backwards. In the correct order, that means identifying where
we’re going to park, then identify the taxi route from the runway we’re going to land at
all the way to where we’re going to park, then understanding the final approach
procedure to the runway and finally looking at our overall standard terminal arrival
procedure into LA. So, let’s start with the first step and take a look at where Gate 25
actually is at Los Angeles International Airport.
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Parking Bay Spotting
Alright so welcome once again to Navigraph charts ladies and gentlemen and what you
see here is a parking bay chart for KLAX. After scouring through the different terminal
buildings, I finally managed to find our gate and it is near the North Complex of LA here
at Terminal 2 as you can see. Now this chart only shows us a selection of parking bays in
a concentrated region of the airport. To see the entire airport including the runways and
the primary taxiways, we need another chart; namely the Airport Information chart, so
let’s pull that up now.
Taxi Route from Runway to Gate
Alright, now here, we have the full airport information chart and as you can see, it has all
the runways, taxiways and terminal layouts on it. Now from the previous chart, we
worked out that gate 25 is located at terminal 2 towards the Northern Complex of KLAX
and looking in a similar direction on this chart, we figure out that terminal 2 is right here
and gate 25 would probably be somewhere here. Additionally, our arrival runway:
runway 25L is right here, so as you can probably make out, it’s going to be a relatively
lengthy taxi to our gate; so let’s start working it out. So, we see that the runway length is
going to be around 11000 feet or 3.4km, which is extremely long, so we won’t need to
brake as vigorously as we would have if we were landing in a small regional airport with
shorter runways. After landing then, we would vacate the runway on the right side,
typically at H7, H8 or H9 over here depending on our accuracy during touchdown.
Regardless of where we vacate, we will take this hotel taxiway all the way till this Lima
taxiway and will then cross this runway: runway 25R and take this taxiway all the way
till the end. Here, we’ll turn right onto Echo and track straight until reaching this D9
intersection, where we’ll turn right and park at Gate 25 at Terminal 2 at Los Angeles.
Though long, I think the taxi procedure will be relatively straightforward, so hope that
makes sense.
ILS 25L Final Approach
Ok so coming back one more level, let’s take a look at all of the important information
we need for the approach procedure towards runway 25L at LA. So, let’s start by noting
some of the information from this placard on the top left. On the top row as you can see
here, we have all of the relevant ATC communication frequencies, including the ATIS,
approach, tower and ground frequencies. However, since we’re flying without ATC, we
won’t be needing any of these for today’s flight. Coming down to the row below, we will
most definitely be needing all of this information. So starting from the left, we first have
our localizer’s frequency, which is a navigational frequency we will dial into the radios to
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be able to capture the localizer for runway 25L at LA and help us perform an ILS
landing. Right next to it, we also have the final approach course for the runway 25L, in
this case 251 degrees, which we will be entering into our course selector knobs on the
MCP panel. Coming further right, we then have our Glideslope capture waypoint as well
as altitude. So, ideally, we should be capturing the glideslope- which is the vertical
segment of the ILS beacon, at around 1900 feet when we intercept this LIMMA
waypoint. Now this should automatically be set within our FMC as the software has
access to all of these constraints and regulations. Coming further right, normally, we
would find our minimum decision height for landing here- however, in this case, the chart
tells us to refer to the ILS minimums. Now the minimums on this particular chart can be
found all the way at the bottom right here. So, for a standard CAT 1 or category 1 ILS
approach towards runway 25L, our decision height will be 304’ baro or 200’ in radio.
Finally, coming further right, we have the airport elevation: 128 feet, so we’ll be dialing
that into our pressurization selector on the forward overhead panel. Coming underneath,
we have our missed approach procedure, which contains rules that govern what we would
do as pilots in-case of a go-around or an aborted landing sequence. Now we personally
only need the initial altitude we need to climb to as well as the heading to maintain while
performing a missed approach procedure. So, our initial altitude will be 2000 feet and we
will be following our runway heading of 251 degrees, both of which we will be entering
into the MCP panel when we are fully established on the localizer and glideslope for
runway 25L. The rest of the procedure simply dictates how to set yourself up for another
try at the approach but I’m really hoping we won’t have to perform a missed approach in
this “instructional” episode. Finally on this placard, we also have our transition altitude as
well as level, which are both 18000 feet, so we’ll be looking to switch to the local
altimeter setting at Los Angeles as we approach 18000 feet during our descent.
STAR Chart
So, the final chart we’re going to be looking at then is this overall STAR chart which
shows us our standard terminal arrival into Los Angeles. You might remember seeing this
chart from episode 7 in this series, but if you need a refresher, here we see the entire
descent and approach into KLAX. So, according to the SADDE8 arrival procedure, we
will be coming in through REYES and will then come to this Fillmore VOR which you
guys might remember as the FIM waypoint on our route from the previous episode. After
FIM, we’ll be heading to SYMON then to BAY ST and then will be turning left heading
070 degrees, at which point we will be parallel with the runway. We will then self-vector
ourselves and complete a right traffic pattern to land at runway 25L and KLAX. So,
that’s pretty much going to be our entire route from initial descent all the way to parking
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at gate 25 at LA. Now let’s jump back into the flight deck and start preparing the aircraft
for arrival.
Flight Deck Initial Actions
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight deck. So, now that we know all
the particulars of our arrival information, let’s start preparing for descent as it will creep
up on us pretty quick if we’re not well prepared. Now according to the checklist, we
would want to enter the STAR and the arrival runway about 10 minutes before reaching
our top of descent point. However, as mentioned in previous episodes, to preserve the
linear and instructional nature of this series, I entered the arrival procedure as well as the
arrival runway on the ground at San Francisco itself, so we’re already prepared in that
respect. Coming down to the progress page, here we can see that we’re around 60
nautical miles away from our top of descent point. As we cruise to the top of descent
point, I’d also like to let you guys know that we will be descending in incremental
altitudes just like we did when we were climbing. So from our current altitude of 35000
feet, we will then be descending to 18000 feet; which is our transition altitude. From
there, we’ll descend down to 10000 feet. After this 10000’ altitude checkpoint, we will
slowly descend through the different speed and altitude constraints on our arrival all the
way down to 1900 feet, which was our glideslope capture altitude for runway 25L and
KLAX. So, I’ll let you enjoy the rest of the cruise and I’ll see you when we get to around
20 nautical miles away from our top of descent point. *CINEMATICS AFTER THIS*
Top of Descent
Alright ladies and gentlemen, hope you guys enjoyed that little cinematic portion of the
flight. As you can see on the progress page, we’re approaching our top of descent point
pretty quickly, so let’s go ahead and first dial our altitude down to 18000 feet on the MCP
panel like so. This will tell the aircraft that it is now cleared to descend down to the
specified altitude after the top of descent point. Now one thing to note here is that the
descent process will start automatically when we hit the TOD point on our route, but if
ATC instructs you to start the descent earlier, simply come down to this FMC and press
this descent button. As you can see here, we have this option that says descend now. So
assuming you have a lower altitude selected on the MCP, you can simply press this
button and press execute to be able to start the descent. Let’s go ahead and do that here
since we’re almost at the top of descent point anyway. As you can see and probably hear,
the engines are now starting to spool down a little. Additionally, on the primary flight
display, we also see this little pink triangle appear on the vertical scale ID annunciator,
which is supposed to represent our ideal desired vertical path if we are to stick to the
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VNAV profile. Obviously, you’ll also see our altitude start to decrease at this point. Now
at this point, depending on the severity of the descent, you could turn the seatbelt signs
from the auto position to the ‘on’ position. In our case, let’s go ahead and do that now
just so we don’t forget it in the later phases of flight.
Descent Checklist
So ladies and gentlemen, with the descent started, let’s start running through the descent
procedure where the first item on our list is to turn off the center fuel pumps if we have
less than 1400kg of fuel within them. As you guys already know, we’re not really
carrying any fuel in the center pumps for such a short flight, so nothing to do there. Next
up, let’s go ahead and set up the pressurization panel by inputting our landing altitude. So
the airport elevation for LAX if you guys remember was 128 feet, so let’s enter 150 feet
into this land altitude display, as it only changes in increments of 50. Next up, let’s come
over to the forward panels and press this recall button to make sure we don’t have any
master caution alarms within the flight - and all looks good. Next up, we have to enter
our landing reference speeds into the CDU just like we did for the takeoff procedure. So
let’s come down here and go over to this Init Ref or initial reference page by pressing on
the corresponding button here. As you can see, the aircraft has already recognized that we
are in the descent phase of flight and has automatically brought us to the approach
reference page. On the top left here we have our gross landing weight and below it, we
have some specifications relating to the airport such as the length of the runway we’re
landing at as well as the localizer frequency and course over here, which is the same as
the one we obtained on the charts previously in the episode. So the first thing we’re going
to do on this page is to decide and select our landing flap position and consequently, the
approach speed as well. Now for a long runway such as KLAX, we could perform a 30
degree landing as the runway is very long and we’ll have ample time to stop even if our
approach speed might be higher. However, if you guys are practicing landings for the
first time in the airliner, I would highly recommend you guys to always pick flap 40
which is the highest flap position available. This is because controlling the aircraft at a
lower speed is always more easier than coming in at a faster speed with a lower flap
setting. So for the instructional purposes of this video, I’ll go ahead and select flap 40 for
our arrival as well. To do this simply line select this flap 40 option over here and as you
can see, that copies it to our scratchpad. We then simply go ahead and paste that into this
Flap/Spd window right here. With that done, it's time to set our decision height, which as
you might remember was 303 feet baro or 200 feet radio. Now since we set our decision
height in baro as we were departing, let’s input it on the radio this time. So simply go up
to the EFIS panel and move the larger Minimums knob to the radio position and turn this
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knob all the way to 200 feet on this PFD. Now we should expect a minimum callout
when we are 200 feet above the ground during our landing to establish visual contact
with the runway or perform a go-around. With that done, it’s time to set our Navaids for
arrival which basically constitutes our localizer nav frequency and course. So simply
come down to the central pedestal and enter the localizer frequency for runway 25L we
obtained earlier in this nav frequency selector which is 109.90. Doing this on both sides
is a good habit as that will allow you to perform an autoland procedure if you need it later
on. With the frequency entered, we’ll also go to the MCP and enter our approach course
of 251 degrees into both the course selector knobs like so. Finally, we’ll go ahead and set
the autobrake setting we will be using for our landing today. So as soon on the taxi chart
previously in the episode, the runway is extremely long and we’ll want to stop as late as
possible to get onto the Lima Taxiway so I think we can go for autobrake 1. So, with that
all done, let’s continue our descent to 18000 feet and I’ll see you guys then.
Getting METAR data for Arrival
Alright ladies and gentlemen, so as we approach 22000 feet, it’s time to start looking at
some of the arrival information at KLAX. The way to do this is actually pretty simple, as
we simply need to head over to Google Chrome and get what’s known as the METAR
report for the arrival airport just like we did when departing San Francisco. So, on screen
now you’re seeing a screenshot of the important weather information I got online. So we
have the temperature, dew point as well as the surface winds. However, the most
important piece of information we need here is of course the barometric pressure that we
must input within our altimeter - which is here as you guys can see. So let’s go ahead and
enter that data within the EFIS panel as we get ever so closer to 18000 feet. Now a neat
little trick you can employ here is to set the altimeter setting even before getting to the
transition level. The way to do this is to simply go over to the EFIS panel and on the
Altimeter selector, simply rotate the outer knob to the specific barometric pressure setting
we wish to set. As you can see at the bottom right of the PFD, we still remain in Standard
altimeter mode, but right underneath it, the aircraft preselects the altimeter setting so that
we can simply press this middle STD button on the altimeter selector to switch from
standard mode to the manually selected barometric pressure as we approach our transition
level.
Setting Lower Altitude and Setting Barometric Pressure
Alright ladies and gentleman, we’re at 19000 feet and descending fast, so in order to
continue our descent and not stop at 18000 feet, let’s go up to the MCP and dial the
altitude back to 10000 feet, which is our next incremental altitude checkpoint. With that
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done, as approaching 18000 feet also means that we’re pretty close to our transition level,
let’s go ahead and press this standard button on the altitude selector as mentioned before
to switch to the manually selected barometric pressure setting. As you can see on the
bottom right of the PFD, the selected altimeter setting is shown here, so we’re looking
good for a safe approach into Los Angeles.
Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that’s that for the descent planning and initial approach
procedure into LA. In the next episode, I’m going to be at the helm of the ship and will
be live commentating the entire final approach, which encompasses our descent from
around 15000 feet all the way down to the ground at runway 25L. Just like the previous
episode, I’ll be keeping this conclusion short as I want the transition from this episode to
the next to be as seamless as possible, so if you guys enjoyed this video, make sure to
perform a full stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button and press the bell
icon for future notifications from this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments
section and let me know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. As
usual, thanks for flying by!
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CHAPTER 15: FINAL DESCENT, APPROACH &
LANDING
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 15
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to what is probably one of
the most anticipated videos in this Zibo 737 Aircraft Dissected series which is of course,
the landing. So, in the previous episode, we covered the descent planning and initial
approach phase of flight and in this episode, the main highlights, as you can probably tell
from the title and thumbnail of this video are going to be taking a look at the entire
descent and landing phases of phases of flight. So without further adieu, let’s jump into
the flight deck and pick up where we left off...
Switch from VNAV to Manual
Alright ladies and gentlemen, in a few moments, we’ll be switching the LNAV and
VNAV modes off and use the heading select modes to control our heading as well as the
individual altitude, speed and vertical speed knobs on the MCP to control our descent
towards the start of our approach procedure towards runway 25L and LA. We do this first
of all in order to have more granular control over our overall approach towards the airport
but more importantly: to be able to show you how to operate the other knobs on the MCP
panel comfortably. As we go along, everything will be explained systematically through
the live commentary, but just wanted to give you guys a heads-up as to what to look out
for as we continue our descent.
Localizer and Glideslope Capture
Alright ladies and gentlemen, so as we start making our base leg right turn towards the
HUNDA waypoint, I’d like to bring your attention to these two hollow diamonds on the
PFD which represent the localizer as well as glideslope components of the ILS beacon,
which we will be using to make a precision landing on runway 25L at LA. As you can
see, currently, both diamonds are hollow, which means that the aircraft has detected the
presence of a localizer and a glideslope beacon but hasn’t established itself onto either of
them. As we move further into our turn though, first you’ll see this localizer diamond at
the bottom go from being hollow to filled in pink, signifying that the aircraft is ready to
capture it in order to get perfectly aligned with the centerline of the runway and give us
lateral guidance towards the runway. When this happens, I’ll go ahead and press the VOR
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LOC button on the MCP panel in order to capture this localizer - following which the
directional component of the aircraft will completely be handled by the localizer. As for
the other hollow diamond on the right of the artificial horizon here, that will come alive a
little further in the approach as we continue descending to our glideslope capture altitude
of 1900’. If you remember from the previous episode, we are supposed to intercept the
glideslope component at 1900’ when we get to the LIMMA waypoint. So when the
glideslope diamond gets filled in pink, we will wait for the diamond to start coming down
on the SCALE ID annunciator, following which we will retract flaps all the way to 15
degrees and also extend the landing gear. As the glideslope diamond continues to come
down, we will eventually go ahead and press the approach button on the MCP which will
fully establish us on the localizer as well as the glideslope for an ILS landing into
Runway 25L. So just as a recap, as we continue our turn, the hollow localizer diamond at
the bottom will become fully pink, following which we will press the VOR LOC button
to intercept the localizer. Then, once we’re aligned with the center line, as we continue to
descend, eventually the glideslope diamond will also fill up, so we’ll take flap 15 and
gear down when the diamond begins to come down and will also arm the approach mode
on the MCP. Capiche? Alright, let’s go ahead and resume the simulation.
PAPI Lights
Alright ladies and gentlemen, as we make our final turn and get onto short final for
runway 25L, I also want to introduce a new indication to look out for, which are the PAPI
lights. For those of you who don’t know, PAPI in aviation is not the Spanish word for
dad, but instead stands for Precision Approach Path Indicator, which are a set of 4 lights
which shine either a red or white light depending on the angle at which you view them
during your descent. Normally, these PAPI lights are used to stay on the correct glidepath
during the approach towards the runway. As you can see on screen right now, if you see 2
red lights and 2 white lights, that means that you’re on the perfect glide path and will be
landing in the touchdown zone of the runway. If you have more red lights than white
lights, for example 3 red lights and 1 white light, that is an indication that you’re too low
and must maintain your altitude and speed to be able to rejoin the glide path. Similarly, if
you have more white lights than red lights, that is an indication that you’re too high, so
you need to reduce your speed and lose some altitude to be able to again rejoin the glide
path. As the saying goes, “red on red, you’re dead”- meaning you’re too low. “White on
white, check your height” - meaning of course that you’re too high. Finally, you also
have “red on white, you’re alright”- meaning that you’re on the right glide path for the
approach. Alright so I hope that made sense to you, so be sure to look out for those PAPI
lights in the distance. I will mention them in the live commentary but again, just wanted
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to explain some theory and give you guys a heads-up as to what to look out for during
this phase of flight. So, let’s get back to this sim!
Landing Tips
Alright ladies and gentlemen, we’re now on final approach and I’ll take this time to give
you guys a few rough tips regarding landing. I’ll try to keep this section short, as I want
to make a full-fledged comprehensive landing technique video on the 737-800 later down
the line. This little segment is just to show what to do and what not to do while
performing a standard ILS landing in the Zibo 737. First things first, now that we are
established on the localizer and glideslope and also have a visual reference to the runway,
we’ll be disconnecting the autopilot as well as the autothrottle and manually fly the
aircraft down to the ground. During this process, keep a close eye on the PAPI lights
while descending. As you get to below 300 feet or so, you want to generally start
ignoring the PAPI lights and completely focus your attention on the touchdown zone
which are these piano tile markings on the runway you’re seeing right now. Aircraft will
usually touch down right in front of these piano tiles and a good way to know the
touchdown zone is to look at the black skid marks on the runway. As you continue your
descent and pass the runway threshold, it’s important that you switch your focus from the
piano tiles to the opposite end of the runway, as you’re going to want a better frame of
reference in front of you to gently flare the aircraft a bit. For those of you who don’t
know, flaring is the process of slowly pitching the aircraft's nose up right before
touchdown so that it lands on it’s main landing gear first. As you begin to descend below
100 feet, the ground proximity warning system within the plane will begin counting down
your altitude in lower increments of 10 feet starting from 50 feet; so 50, 40, 30, 20 and so
on. So at 30 feet, you should completely retract the thrust levers and gently begin the
flare up to around 2.5 to 5 degrees on the artificial horizon. Again, like most things, this
is normally a feeling you need to have as a pilot to have a smooth, yet firm touchdown,
and will normally come with practice. As soon as we touch down, we’ll go ahead and
deploy the reverse thrust, so you’ll hear the engine spooling back up at idle reverse thrust
to allow us to slow down in conjunction with the autobrake and the wing spoilers. And
that should be enough for you guys to get a brief picture of what to look out for during
the landing sequence. Let’s switch back to live commentary and actually watch the
landing now.
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Conclusion
So ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this Aircrafts Dissected episode,
covering the final descent and landing into KLAX. Now, though it may seem like the end
of this series, there’s still one more episode left to go, where we cover the after landing
procedure and taxi back to the gate to disembark the passengers and officially conclude
the flight. Again, just like the previous episode, I’ll be keeping this conclusion short as I
want the transition from this episode to the next to be as seamless as possible, so if you
guys enjoyed this video, make sure to perform a full stop-landing at the like button and
the subscribe button and press the bell icon for future notifications from this channel.
Also, be sure to flyby the comments section and let me know if there’s any questions
you’d like me to answer for you. As usual, thanks for flying by!
EXTRA - GENERAL NOTES FOR FULL FLIGHT
Before Engine Start
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-
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-
Before episode 11, make sure to introduce cabin loading. So start the flight leg.
In Episode 11, give a brief understanding of stepping through the route. Briefly
introduce the concept of route discontinuities and vectors and show the entire
route on the ND but on the LDU.
Make note about autothrottle system procedures differing across airlines.
For the taxi and takeoff brief, simply give a brief description of the 3000 feet
initial altitude. Also, show the viewers how the taxi would most likely take place
and what are the different basic procedures to be wary of during takeoff (optional).
For the pushback operation, simply connect the truck first, before planning any
pushback operations (again, situation dependant)
Make note of starting the clock on the FO’s side before starting the pushback.
Give a brief description of push and start clearance.
For engine start, start one of the engines while doing the pushback and monitor
EGT, N2 and fuel flow readings. (Also comment on the faint rumble of the
engines). Verify that the starter does cutout and that the engine stabilizes at around
58.3 before starting the next one. Fuel flow reading should be around 0.64 or 640
pounds per engine per hour.
Disconnect and show hand signals and give a brief description of what monitoring
that looks like. (Verify that the hand signals are indeed there).
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Before Taxi
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-
-
-
APU bus light comes on when the engine generators are selected.
Go back to DC and AC panel and select TR1 on DC knob and Gen 1 on AC knob
(NOT IN CHECKLIST) - So important to see if engines are indeed providing
decent electrical power to confirm proper operation of engine electrical generators.
Comment on the isolation valve, saying that switching it to auto instead of on is
better, so that the aircraft can handle all of the parameters itself. APU is switched
off.
Verification of ground equipment comes quite late in the checklist. Make sure to
track the position of the ground staff when they provide the hand signals and once
done - can either have post recording or a little text box on screen to suggest that
ground equipment is clear.
Set flaps (give some nice wing views)
After Flt. Ctrl. Check - make sure to give a brief understanding of why the LDU is
left blank.
On the EFIS control panel, set data on both sides, set terrain on the first officer's
side. Give a brief note about switching the TCAS system to TA/RA based on the
airport and ATC instructions (in our case, we’ll turn it on while entering the
runway).
Taxi
-
-
Make sure to say initial thrust should be a tad high, but then adjust it based on
ground speed. Provide a brief overview of taxi speeds on the ground at most
airports.
Provide a note of turning the position lights to strobe and steady when crossing a
runway (IMPORTANT)
While taxiing parallel to the 28 runways, turn on the autothrottle. Make sure to
check the arm indication on the FMA and also make sure that the autothrottle does
indeed come on.
Before Takeoff
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Everything from this point up until the takeoff and climb portion of the flight will
be live commentated to be able to describe the various experiences. So just a brief
bit of post com to let you guys know what is going to happen in the next few
minutes as the takeoff sequence does indeed happen quite quickly. As soon as we
get on the runway, assuming we get our clearance for takeoff, we’ll advance the
thrust levers to 40% N1. which you will see on the Upper display unit. Again, I’ll
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be using the red boxes to highlight everything to the best of my abilities. Then, we
push the TOGA button. Now I won’t be pressing it in the sim, as I have that button
mapped to my throttle quadrant in real life that I use alongside my sidestick to
control the aircraft. So when I push that, a couple of things will happen, you will
see the N1 rise up to the N1 bug we had set in the FMC programming video. Then
we will begin to pick up speed on the runway. The Zibo has a very helpful first
officer in the flight deck with you, who will make various announcements
throughout the takeoff phase. So at 80 knots, the first officer will say 80 knots
where we will cross check it on our PFD. Then the FO will callout V1 and rotate
immediately after that since in our case, our V1 and rotate speeds are the same at
142 knots. So at this point, we’ll gently lift up the nose of the aircraft to about 15
degrees pitch on the PFD. Don’t jerk the stick back all the way, be very smooth
with it and gently bring it up to 15 degrees. As we’re doing that the first officer
will again make a callout, this time saying positive rate, meaning that we are
successfully climbing at a good, positive rate, so it’s safe to retract the gear. So
when he says that, simply press the G button on your keyboard or whatever button
you may have mapped to your real joystick. In my case, I again have a gear button
mapped to my joystick, so I’ll retract the gear. Then the first officer will make
various altitude callouts, calling 400 feet and then 1000 feet. We will constantly
monitor the PFD speed strip and make sure that we are retracting the flaps at the
right time. The plan is to hand fly the aircraft till about 3000 feet and then increase
the altitude on the MCP and let the autopilot do the rest.
After Takeoff Procedure (Below 10000’)
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Switch over to post comm - Walk through the procedure on checklist from ‘engine
bleed and packs’ till ‘retract/taxi lights’. (BEFORE 10000 FEET) this is
Also comment on FMA on PFD. Make sure that it reads N1 for the autothrottle
mode and LNAV and VNAV speed on the other two columns to make sure that
the FMC or autopilot systems within the aircraft are following the correct
procedures. Make sure to comment on the 250 knots speed limit below 10000 feet
at some point during the takeoff and climb.
Finally, talk about the good habit of synching the heading bug.
Aircraft Takeoff Procedure (After 10000’)
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Make sure to point out that the aircraft levels off and that the airspeed bug gets set
to a higher number. After 10000 feet, we don’t have any speed constraint.
Also set seatbelts signs to auto.
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Comment on the next milestone for the flight being the transition altitude which is
18000 feet. At this point also go over to the Nd and comment about the green arc
that appears signifying that that is the point we will be reaching the specific
altitude that has been set in the MCP. So when we reach 17000 feet we will
increase that altitude on the MCP to our final cruising altitude, which is 35000
feet, so the FMC can use the waypoints we programmed into it to get us to 35000
feet at the right time.
Reaching Trans. Altitude, set all the altimers to standard pressure. Also here,
mention 737Simpilot’s point about being able to set synchronized barometric
pressure settings.
While in the climb, make sure to say that the pilots at this time will cross reference
their fuel burn using their flight plan and see if that is indeed the amount of fuel
they are actually burning.
While climbing also introduces the T/C indication to show the top of the climb
point. Show how you can cross reference that with the FMC legs page and see if
the altitude is indeed matching.
Also introduce the viewers at this time to the progress page, where pilots can track
their progress and given that certain controlled variables are maintained, they can
check what time they will be arriving at certain waypoints as well as the final
destination.
Cruise
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Make sure to come back to the progress page and check when the top of descent is.
You can check the distance in nautical miles and the time when we get there in
zulu time. Additionally, you also see the amount of fuel we’ll have on board when
we get there.
Make sure to reset the minimums as we’re taken off successfully and reached
cruising altitude, so we don’t have to think about going back to San Francisco. On
the FMA make sure that the autothrottle speed mode is FMC speed and that the
upper display unit reads crz which stands for cruise speed for the engines.
There’s no checklist, so it’s pretty chill.
Descent Planning
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So start with descent planning around 80 nautical miles away. Point out the T/D
position on the ND which is the top of descent mark. So, ideally, according to the
aircraft’s calculated flight path, that is when we’re supposed to start descending to
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maintain the exact vertical profile to be able to get to Los Angeles while following
all speed and altitude constraints.
Mention a note about ATC here and about how we programmed our arrival into
Los Angeles during the FMC programming video. Say how that’s only for
instructional purposes. In real life, pilots wouldn’t program the arrival in until
reaching to about 10-20 minutes away from top of descent, where they can ask the
approach controllers what arrival is currently in progress and what runway they
should be expecting to land at. This is because on long flights, by the time you get
to the arrival airport, weather conditions might have changed, and they may prefer
a different runway which requires a different arrival procedure. In this case, we’re
going to go ahead with our already programmed arrival which was the SADDE8
arrival and our arrival runway was going to runway 25L.
Assuming that ATC then clears us to descend via the START at our discretion, we
will then start programming a few values into different systems within the flight to
be able to prepare for arrival.
STAR chart- Note the landing altitude, in this case 128 feet. Also note transition
level which is 18000 feet, which will be our initial descent altitude, just like we
had an initial climb altitude, where we climbed up in different steps, from 3000
feet up to 10000 feet up to 18000 and eventually up to 35000, we’ll do the same
on the way down. With ATC, they will instruct you to descend to certain altitudes
and turn in various directions, but in this case, without ATC, this is a logical way
to descend to the arrival airport in segments.
Look at arrival charts,
Set 18000’ in the altitude panel.
Plan for arrival runway, our final gate as well
Get arrival ATIS information (specifically altimeter)
Descent Actual
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Note pink triangles appearing on scale ID annunciators to highlight the overall
descent profile vertically and laterally. Clearly show that the descent has started.
FMC will point out certain things you need to do to help it in flying the aircraft, in
this case, it says ‘drag required’. So we can extend the speedbrakes a tad bit to
allow the aircraft to slow down and maintain its vertical profile as best as possible.
Set seatbelt sign to on for the descent.
Constantly make sure that the scale ID triangles are in line with the aircraft’s wing
and fuselage indicator.
Set landing altitude
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Set Minimums for departure runway
Select the VREF on the FMC. Verify ILS course and frequency.
Set the navaid as well.
Set autobrake mode depending on runway length and where we want to vacate.
Nearing 18000’, set next altitude of 10000’ (Do this around 22000’)
Keep verifying RNP and ANP values for both the vertical and horizontal profiles.
Passing 18000’, make sure to tune in the arrival altimeter in captain’s and standby
radios. (Show cool trick of selecting it before even getting to trans altitude)
Pause the sim for a bit and also highlight that we have a vector coming up after the
SMO point. Show the FMA switch to 250 knots constraint, show the vertical scale
ID goes up and the aircraft pitches up a bit to lose some speed.
Set 3600’ as altitude for hunda when reaching 12000 feet to allow aircraft to
descend further.
Show the airport from the windshield at this point.
Passing 10000’ the landing lights can come on.
After the turn from SMO, highlight that we’re flying parallel to the runway. Then
everything’s live from there on out. Up until the runway has been vacated. After
that, we perform the after land procedure and the appropriate checklists.
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CHAPTER 16: AFTER LANDING AND SHUTDOWN
PROCEDURE
Read the manual alongside the video:​ ​EPISODE 16
Introduction
What’s going on guys, FlyBy Simulations here and welcome to the final episode in the
full-flight portion of this aircraft’s dissected series. So, in the penultimate episode, we
took a detailed look at the final descent and landing procedure and in this episode, the
main highlights, as you can probably tell from the title and thumbnail of this video are
going to be taking a look at the after landing procedure as well as taxi to the parking gate.
So without wasting any more of your time, let’s jump into the flight deck and get started!
After Landing Procedure
Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the flight deck of the Boeing 737-800. As
you guys might remember, in the previous episode, we vacated right onto the hotel
taxiway. So, the first procedure checklist we’re going to run through right after landing is
obviously the after-landing procedure. So again, this procedure is normally performed by
the pilot monitoring as the pilot flying will taxi the aircraft back to the gate. However, for
the instructional purposes of this video, we’ll hold short at this position before crossing
runway 25R and perform the procedure. So first things first, we’re going to go ahead and
retract the speed brakes or flight spoilers that extend on top of the wing to help slow
down the aircraft at landing. So simply come down to this lever and retract it all the way
to this ‘down’ position. Next up, we’re going to restart the APU in order to have
self-sufficient power before we get to the gate, so we can shutdown the engines without
losing all electrical power in the aircraft. So again, come up to the forward overhead
panel, and flick the APU start switch to the ‘start’ position, hold for 2 seconds and then
release it. Make sure the switch flicks back to the ‘on’ position. While we’re on the
forward overhead panel, also come up to the external heating panel and turn off both the
probe heat switches, as the sensitive equipment on the outside of the aircraft is no longer
needed for flight operation. Next up, come down to the lighting strip at the bottom and
turn off all of the landing lights and the runway turnoff lights and turn on the taxi light.
Note that you can continue keeping the runway turnoff lights on if you’re flying at night.
Additionally, it would be at this point when you would turn the position light to the
steady position if you don’t have any more runways to cross during your taxi back to the
gate. However, as mentioned before, we still have to cross runway 25L, so we’re going to
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keep the position lights on for now. Next up, turn the engine start switches from the
continuous position to the auto position. Coming down to the forward panels, we can go
ahead and turn off the weather radar on the left side as well as the terrain map on the right
side. We can also turn off the data modes on the ND at this time. Finally on the forward
panel, we can go ahead and turn the autobrake position to the off position and observe
that the light goes away. Next up, we’ll go ahead and retract the flaps all the way to the
‘up’ position. Next up, depending on instructions from ATC, we would set the TCAS to
the appropriate mode. In this case, let’s assume ATC instructs us to switch the TCAS to
Standby, so simply move the knob to the standby position. And that’s that for the
immediate after-landing procedure, so let’s start our taxi to the gate. Again, I’ll include a
live schematic of the taxi route as we continue so you can see how we eventually get to
gate 25 towards the northern complex of KLAX.
Shutdown Procedure
Alright ladies and gentlemen, hopefully you were able to follow along with the taxi
procedure to gate 25. So, now that we’re parked at the gate, let’s start the shutdown
procedure to be able to safely shut down the engines and disembark the passengers and
cargo. So first things first, let’s go ahead and set the parking brake. Then let’s come back
up to the forward overhead panel, and make sure that the APU is ready to supply power
on the bus transfer and electrical source selector panel. Since the two lights are
illuminated, flick both the switches down and observe the power switch to both sides of
the aircraft. Once electrical power has been established, simply come back behind the
throttle quadrant and move both the engine start levers to to the ‘cutoff’ position. Next
up, let’s go up to the forward overhead panel and switch the seatbelts signs off to allow
the passengers to disembark. Since the engines have been turned off, let’s turn off the
anti-collision light to allow ground personnel to safely approach the aircraft. With that
done, let’s go back up to the forward overhead panel and turn off all the fuel pumps. As
for the cabin utility and IFE/pass seat switches, let’s leave them both on, as that’s the
default setting. Coming to the anti-icing panel, make sure both the wing and engine
anti-ice switches are in the ‘off position’. Coming further underneath to the hydraulic
panel, we can leave the engine hydraulic pumps on but we’ll be turning off the electrical
hydraulic pumps. Next up, we’ll come to the air conditioning panel and leave the
recirculation fans as well as the packs to ‘auto’. Coming underneath, we’ll leave the
engine bleed switches on and turn on the APU bleed switch as well to get air supply from
the APU. Exterior lights have already been taken care of, so we’ll come over to the MCP
and turn off both the flight director switches. With that all done, we have successfully
brought the aircraft to what’s known as a ‘Turnaround stage’. Pilots would normally
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bring the aircraft to this stage after each flight right before they turn the aircraft around
for another departure. So, if you were planning to take this aircraft back from La to San
Francisco, you could start entering the departure information and restart the entire
procedure like we did at San Francisco at this point.
Conclusion and Acknowledgements
Alright ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of this Aircraft Dissected episode
and consequently, the end of the full-flight portion of this instructional web-series on the
Zibo mod Boeing 737-800. In contrast to the last few episodes in this series, this
conclusion won’t be as short, as there is no ‘next’ episode that we need to transition to at least in the full flight series. So let me take this time to properly conclude this series
and give my acknowledgements to some of the key people who have supported me
throughout this journey. So to start off, I would like to give my utmost thanks to Craig,
who has supported me from the very beginning and has even gone out of his way to share
my videos on different X-plane forums which has helped in bringing more viewers to the
channel. I would also like to thank Slicker55 who leaves so much positive support on
every single one of my videos and motivates me to bring high-quality content to the
community. E.W. Forbes has always supported the channel from a very young stage and
given words of encouragement and even tips and tricks relating to the Zibo 737 that even
I was unaware of. Similarly, the unwavering support of Mr. Susanta and Soham Mallik
has also been absolutely fantastic and I can’t thank you enough for it. Finally, Mr. Robert
Brown, who has shown massive support on my channel and who also happens to be a
retired Sea Captain from Perth, Australia - I salute you and I sincerely thank you for your
support and your words of encouragement from the very beginning. At the very end of
this segment, I would also like to give a huge shoutout to two YouTube channels that
started out with me when I began making content and have both become amazing
flightsim channels that I watch regularly. Number 1 would be academic aviation, who
creates amazing short cinematic and informative videos and number 2 would be into the
blue simulations, who happens to be a real world A320 pilot and provides detailed
live-commentary tutorials on the aircraft and much much more. You can check both their
channels out and they’re the first link to the description as they have also been a massive
support system throughout all of this. So with that all said, I don’t want to make this
conclusion into some Oscar-winning speech, so if you guys enjoyed this video, make sure
to perform a full stop-landing at the like button and the subscribe button and press the
bell icon for future notifications from this channel. Also, be sure to flyby the comments
section and let me know if there’s any questions you’d like me to answer for you. As
usual, thanks for flying by!
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