Fly the Wing

A flight training handbook for transport category airplanes

Billy Walker

• Publisher: Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc.
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781619546394
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Aviation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

"Fly the Wing" has been an indispensable comprehensive textbook on operating transport-category airplanes for more than 45 years. Pilots planning a career in aviation will find this book provides important insights not covered in other books. Written in an easy, conversational style, this useful manual progresses from ground school equipment and procedures to simulators and actual flight. Along the way, the author covers the physical, psychological, and technical preparation pilots need in order to acquire an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate while maintaining the highest standards of performance. "Fly the Wing" serves as a reference to prepare for the ATP FAA Knowledge Exam.Although not intended to replace training manuals, this book is by itself a course in advanced aviation. With clear explanations and in-depth coverage, it has been described as a "full step beyond the normal training handbook." Pilots who want additional knowledge in the fields of modern flight deck automation, high-speed aerodynamics, high-altitude flying, speed control, takeoffs, and landings in heavy, high-performance aircraft will find it in this resource. This new fourth edition includes access to additional online resources, including a flight terms glossary, printable quick reference handbooks, and numerous supporting graphics.

1

Ground School and Study Habits

The “new-hire” pilot’s first exposure to ground school with an airline will begin with several days of learning company procedures. Ground instructors will guide students patiently through the multitudinous intricacies of the Flight Operations Manual, the various forms to be used as an operating crewmember (the pay form is considered by most captains as being the first officer’s greatest responsibility), and the various subjects required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for pilot indoctrination and recurrent training. These will include jet upset, high-altitude meteorology, takeoff and landing minimums, weight and balance, takeoff and landing data cards, company operations specifications, etc. These subjects are fairly standard for every airline. Some I consider the province of the ground instructor, and I have omitted those from this book. But the others, related more directly to actual flight, we’ll get into a bit later. I know of no pilot who has not successfully completed this portion of training.

After completing indoctrination, the new hire will be assigned a category in specific equipment and given a base assignment. Insofar as possible, this assignment will be in accordance with the pilot’s stated preference, but the actual assignment will be predicted on the airline’s need at the moment. If, for example, the most pressing need at the time is for Boeing 757 first officers in New York—first officers in 757 equipment—the new hire will enter first-officer training for the Boeing 757 and be based in New York upon completion of training. Future assignments and training will be on a bid basis of stated preference and seniority. With an equipment assignment, the trainee will begin the type of ground school training to be repeated many times as progress is made (rewarded by higher pay) to higher-paying equipment and categories demanding more skill and training in specific types of aircraft.

Ground Instructors

The ground instructors will be highly trained educators with a wide diversity of backgrounds. Some will be maintenance specialists with years of experience on the particular aircraft; others will be retired military or airline pilots with thousands of hours of flight experience. They will teach the mechanics as well as the operation of the many systems of the complex transport aircraft. They will also recommend the trainee for the verbal examination, which is given by the FAA for type ratings and certificates and/or by a check pilot for first officers.

It is vitally important that the pilot know the aircraft and its systems thoroughly. Therefore, every modern educational aid is used. The airlines have millions of dollars invested in training aids—films, slides, videos, system mock-ups (electronic boards duplicating various systems), and very realistic cockpit procedure trainers. Additionally, the new generation of teaching aids includes computers. Computer-based training (CBT) is becoming the normal method of teaching aircraft systems. Some airlines do not use stand-up instructors these days.

Every new and proven technique and aid to education is used to make sure that the pilot learns everything needed. It is desirable for the class size to be restricted to eight during the first week, which is spent with the airplane manual and visual aids; then there should be one instructor for two students during the operational study system operation using the mock-ups and cockpit trainer.

When this book was first published in 1971, there was little tolerance for failure at this stage of training—70 percent was no longer a passing grade. The written examinations given at intervals throughout the course and a final exam upon completion required a minimum grade of 85 percent. These standards will hopefully remain the same. That sounds tough! But actually, the class average is usually in the high 90s, and a minimum grade is rare.

After completing the classroom work, the ground instructor takes two students at a time into the cockpit procedural trainer, in most cases a full-sized cockpit environment capable of simulating and accurately displaying system operation and having some limited flight capability. It is, in fact, a flight simulator without full flight capability. It is here that normal, abnormal, and emergency procedures are taught, with the student in the normal operating position. Each procedure, beginning with cockpit preflight, may be drilled until recognition of desired responses as well as malfunction becomes second nature.

The ground instructor also teaches aircraft performance, usually along with cockpit procedures. Pay close attention and spend some time on your own review of the performance charts for your aircraft. They will probably have sample problems drawn on them, but you should actually work a few examples yourself. Use different values from the sample problem and work out at least one (preferably more) problem on each chart. I would suggest that you actually draw it in and make some notes on the margin of the page. This may prove helpful later when you take your verbal exam.

The state of the art of ground school training has reached the point where the student takes the verbal exam upon the completion of ground school and should be well prepared to pass it easily. This allows the flight instructor to dwell more upon system operation and flight maneuvers in the simulator. Actual flight training in the aircraft has been drastically reduced because of the operating cost. The enhanced safety allows more depth of actual practice in critical operations that would be extremely hazardous in the aircraft, and the student (who already knows how to fly) learns far more from hands-on, in-flight practice. The simulators of today are far more realistic, perform with precise results, may be frozen in any stage of flight to thoroughly discuss a maneuver or procedure, and create an uncanny illusion of actual flight. The flight instructor, to turn out students as well-qualified pilots, now has more time to go even deeper into systems and flight techniques than ever before and has time to evaluate students, observe their progress, and cover each system in even greater detail. The instructor can quickly spot a weakness in a particular system, procedure, or flight technique and then has time to concentrate on what the student needs most.

Aircraft Systems

It seems that every individual has a weakness in some particular system that causes the most trouble, even after completing ground school and passing the verbal exam. It is variable but normal. Usually the problem lies in not knowing how to study aircraft systems. I’ve tried many instructional methods, with varying degrees of success, and have evolved a method of studying an aircraft that is both simple and effective.

Many pilots, particularly those with little or no experience in large aircraft, become bogged down in the many systems and their complexities. They store away in their minds a huge hodgepodge of information about a particular system and then have difficulty relating that knowledge to actual system operation. They try to memorize the manner in which the system is constructed rather than to understand system operation. While it is true that there are some minimum and maximum numbers relating to quantities, pressures, and temperatures that must be memorized, everything else about a system should be considered from a strictly operational standpoint. When learning these numbers, therefore, learn also where they are sensed and where they came from.

There is also a commonality of systems. A hydraulic system, for example, is a hydraulic system. Its construction and operation may vary from airplane to airplane, but many of its features are common to all hydraulic systems. However, many experienced pilots, who have been to several ground schools and studied other comparable systems, seem to have difficulty in learning the same systems in a new aircraft. There is an easy way to learn those systems. Consider what you will need to know to safely fly the airplane and pass your verbal exam and flight check. You will need to know limitations verbatim; normal, abnormal, and emergency operating procedures; systems operation, both normal and abnormal; and emergency equipment location. Let’s take these one at a time and discuss how to study them, though not in the order indicated. Let’s take the pure reading and memory work first.

Limitations need to be memorized and may be broken down into four sections: (1) weights and speeds, (2) pressures and temperature, (3) operational limitations, and (4) equipment operational limits. By breaking limitations down into these categories, you may take a whole limitations section, reduce it to two pages of notes, and memorize it easily. Emergency equipment location is most easily learned in a similar manner. Most aircraft manuals give you a sketch of the floor plan of the aircraft, showing the emergency equipment location. Newer aircraft have placards showing both what the emergency equipment is and where it is located. Break these down into groups of equipment according to type rather than trying to learn the locations of various equipment from front to rear. The emergency equipment required in transport aircraft is the same in all of them. The only variation is in the number required and the location. For example, you might make a list of the type of (1) fire extinguishers (both water and chemical agent) and location; (2) cockpit emergency equipment; (3) oxygen bottles (both ship’s system and walk-around); (4) number and location of emergency exits; (5) life rafts and evacuation slides; (6) escape ropes or tapes; (7) first aid kits; (8) spare and supplemental oxygen masks; and (9) floor access to lower compartments. It’s much easier to learn the equipment by classification, number, and location than it is from a chart.

Let me suggest at this point that you will need to do your homework by manual review and study to prepare for the next day’s ground school subjects. I also suggest that you use the training aids available, including the cockpit procedural trainer, after classroom hours to increase your knowledge and proficiency. You will need some recreation and adequate rest, but also set aside some study time.

Remember, no two students learn at the same rate or absorb material utilizing the same study habits. Decide what works best for you and build a schedule accordingly.

Next, look at the various systems. You’ll need to know them to fly the airplane and perform the operating procedures. Your study of the manual and ground school knowledge can best be used by trying to understand the operation of the system by how it is put together. It is apparent that certain items of quantity (pressures and temperatures, revolutions per minute, voltage and frequency, etc.) must be learned. These are usually maximum and minimum values, which you may have encountered in limitations, but you should also learn the normal values.

Now take every system diagram in your aircraft manual (or the system sketches you may have been furnished in ground school) and the pictures of the system control in your manual. Take every control in the system and visualize in the system diagram just what happens as you operate that control. Trace out the action for each control and learn where to look for positive reaction, i.e., the indication that the control worked. Train yourself to make looking for this response become second nature. Practice this technique and procedure in the cockpit procedural trainer, the simulator, and the airplane. It’s a good habit that may prevent an accident.

Using system diagrams, locate all pressure and temperature sensing locations. Relate them to the system limitations and indications of abnormal functions. Try to visualize what is going on within the system that may be associated with the warning and caution lights of the annunciator panel.

Take each item of the normal checklist and see what it is doing and how it is indicated in system operation until you know what is going on in any system during any phase of flight or operation and with any system-control use. You want to know what happens when you activate a control and where to look to verify that the desired action took place. I’ll guarantee that if you have spent a few hours on your own with this type of study of a system, coupled with what you have learned in ground school and cockpit procedure trainer use, you will know the system. Then you are ready to turn the checklist over and get into abnormal and emergency operating procedures.

Emergency Procedures

Abnormal procedures are not meant to be memorized verbatim. They are related to situations or occurrences considered less hazardous than emergency procedures and are usually handled by use of the flight manual (some operators provide a book of color-coded systems) as a work list. Each flight crewmember, however, is expected to have close familiarity with actions to be taken when abnormalities occur. Some abnormalities, however, do not afford the time to consult the flight manual for corrective action. The items that must be memorized are usually marked by hash-mark enclosures preceding them in the outline of procedures in the abnormal section of the flight manual. In these cases, each crewmember should be able to first perform the appropriate corrective action and then consult the manual to confirm it.

Upon observing an abnormal condition, any crewmember should bring it to the captain’s attention and/or the attention of the full crew. At that point the captain must become a “crew manager,” delegating responsibilities, calmly seeing that all required procedures are carried out, and seeking the input of other crewmembers b...