- •Tapescripts
- •Introduction
- •Aviation English
- •Part I English in Aviation communication
- •Dreams take flight
- •Concorde - end of an era?
- •Deal could revive supersonic flights
- •Airbus 350 cleared for take-off
- •International aviation and space shows
- •The flight crew
- •The Flight Deck
- •Reducing fuel burn on the md-11
- •Sukhoi Superjet 100
- •Air Traffic Control
- •Air traffic controllers
- •Controller-pilot data link communication
- •Free flight
- •Recommendations for air traffic controllers
- •At the Airport
- •A modern airport
- •A Variety of Airport jobs
- •Controlling the planes
- •Airport transport and vehicle
- •Truck collapse leads to delay
- •Welcome aboard
- •Recommendations for pilots
- •Cabin staff
- •Services on board singapore Airlines launches Connexion-based live tv
- •Onboard cellphone
- •Bad passenger behaviour
- •Plane diverted after passenger attacks crew
- •1. First Aid
- •Medical care in air
- •Doctor’s recommendations
- •Potential health risks for pilots
- •Aerodrome forecasts
- •Flying forecast
- •Meteorological hazards
- •Volcanic ash
- •Wind shear and turbulence alerts at Hong Kong International Airport
- •Bird strike hazard
- •Border collies prove effective in controlling wildlife at airports
- •Cabin safety
- •Flight hazards
- •The effect of fatigue on performance and safety
- •Decision-making and Team performance
- •Emergency landing
- •European inspection programme targets aircraft during airport turnarounds
- •Turnaround
- •Aircraft security. The threat of terrorism
- •Hijackers escape
- •Security alert
- •Collision course
- •The runway collision at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport
- •Kegworth crash
- •Flying fur
- •Steps to eliminate runway incursions
- •Recommendations for pilots and controllers
- •The taxi phase should be treated as a critical phase of flight
- •General phraseology and guidance in the uk
- •Recommendations for Pilots:
- •How to be a safe pilot
- •What communication skills mean
- •Plane's mayday call missed due to pilot's poor English
- •Effective Communication
- •Recommendations for pilots and controllers
- •Linguistic problems of aviation english
- •Confusingly related words
- •Part II. English for everyday communication
- •A pilot by passengers’ eyes
- •Flight attendants
The Flight Deck
The flight deck has seats for two pilots (and in some older designs a flight engineer seated behind them). It is usual for the captain to take the left seat and the copilot the right seat. Arrayed around the pilots' seats are controls for the aircraft and its systems and display panels and indicators to tell the pilots how the aircraft and its systems are behaving.
In front of each pilot is a control wheel, which looks like the lower part of a car's steering wheel mounted on a column. The wheel can be turned left and right and also pulled back and pushed forward on its column. The left and right inputs are connected to hydraulic actuators in the aircraft's ailerons and spoilers. The pulling and pushing inputs are connected to actuators in the elevators. The two control wheels are interlinked so that they both move together regardless of which pilot is making the input.
On the later designs of airliner built by Airbus a sidestick replaces the control wheel, one mounted to the left of the left-hand seat pilot, the other to the right of the right-hand seat pilot. Moving the stick sideways has the same effect as turning the control wheel described above. Forward and backward movement of the side stick likewise has the same effect as pushing or pulling the control wheel.
At the feet of each pilot are two rudder pedals one for each foot. When the left pedal is pushed forward the right pedal moves back, and vice versa. The pedal inputs are connected to actuators in the rudder. As with the control wheels, the two sets of pedals are interlinked.
The main engine thrust is controlled by levers located at the forward end of the console. Each engine has its own throttle. Unlike the accelerator pedal in a car, the thrust levers are not spring-loaded to the idle thrust position. Instead they retain the position in which they are set. The reverser controls are attached to the thrust levers.
Just behind the thrust levers are to be found the fuel control switches, which control the valves admitting fuel to the engines. The fuel supply is opened during the engine start sequence and closed to shut down the engines when they are no longer required.
9 Exercise 3.
Reducing fuel burn on the md-11
Aircraft designers have been trying for many years to reduce the amount of fuel which aircraft burn in regular use. Fuel management has become one of the most important functions of pilots on commercial flights. As fuel is the biggest single cost on most flights.
McDonnell Douglas and General Electric are examining ways of reducing fuel burn on the MD-11. Early flight-test data for the MD- 11 indicate that it is burning more fuel than predicted. The aircraft is not meeting performance targets.
Performance figures show that fuel burn on the GE-powered aircraft is consistently 3%-4% above the companies' original estimates, and that the aircraft will therefore not meet its payload/range guarantees.
General Electric is examining various options for improving the specific fuel consumption of the engines, and Douglas is looking at the aircraft's weight and aerodynamics. The aerodynamic performance of the aircraft in flight test has been very good and that remains the case. In the weight area, they are a little over the predicted weight, but they have a weight reduction programme in place which will improve performance by about 0.75%.
Among the options Douglas is examining for weight reduction is the replacement of the MD 11's aluminium floor beams with aluminium-lithium.
10 Exercise 4.