Author: Gareth

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How does a black box work?

Here’s an interesting video that describes how a black box works. How much do you know about them? (If you can’t see the video, try refreshing the page.)

Try to answer the following questions about the video and come back on Monday for the answers.

Suggested ICAO level for video: 5+

Have a great weekend!!

  1. What colour is a black box?
  2. What information does the flight data recorder store?
  3. What information does the cockpit voice recorder store?
  4. Where is the most important data stored in a black box?
  5. What layers protect this important data?
  6. What tests are done on black boxes to ensure their strength?
  7. What happens if one falls into water?

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Fire precaution

Here’s the text to the listening from yesterday.

Enjoy!!

A 767, with 220 passengers and 10 crew, was en route at FL340 over the Atlantic, when the crew turned the plane around and diverted to an alternative airport due to smoke in the cockpit, which came from a lavatory fire. The crew had to perform an overweight landing and stopped on a taxiway next to the runway. Emergency services checked the plane’s tyres for damage, and checked the plane for the source of the fire. They found no smoke in the cockpit and only a little in the lavatory. The passengers were transferred to another flight and continued their journey.

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Fire precaution

Listen to this recording and try to write what your understand. You should try to write everything that is said.

You can listen as many times as you want.

Check below the recording for some of the difficult words and come back and check the full text from this recording tomorrow.

Suggested ICAO level: 4+

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Have a great day!

Difficult words: lavatory (n.)

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How to get into a cockpit answers

Here are the answers to last Friday’s video, enjoy!

Suggested ICAO level for video: 4+

  1. The flight attendant makes a call to the cockpit to request entry, then presses the hash button on the keypad. Next, the captain pushes the switch in the cockpit into the unlock position and the door is unlocked.
  2. In this case, the captain can lock the door from the inside and prevent an unauthorised entry by pushing the switch into the lock position.
  3. In this case the flight attendant should press the emergency code into the keypad and then press the hash button. This triggers the timer for thirty seconds, indicating imminent unlocking. The green light also flashes on the keypad during this 30-second period. Inside the cockpit the buzzer sounds and the open light flashes, both indicating imminent unlocking. When the 30 seconds comes to an end, and if there is no action from the cockpit crew, the door goes into unlocking sequence for five seconds, the buzzing stops and the flight attendant has five seconds to enter the cockpit.

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How to get into a cockpit

Since the crash of the Germanwings A320 this week and the subsequent discovery that the captain was locked out of the cockpit, we decided to show a video about how to get into the cockpit of an Airbus plane.

Try to answer the following questions about the video and come back on Monday for the answers.

Suggested ICAO level for video: 4+

Have a great weekend!!

  1. What’s the normal procedure for someone entering the cockpit?
  2. What happens if an incorrect entry procedure is not followed?
  3. How should a flight attendant proceed in the case of crew incapacitation?

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Instrument problem

Here’s the text to the listening from yesterday.

Enjoy!!

An A340 was climbing out of its airport of origin when the crew decided to abort the flight due to a technical problem. Their navigation display wasn’t operating normally and they couldn’t resolve the situation in-flight. However, due to bad weather at their airport of origin, they decided not to return there, but to divert to an alternative airport with better weather conditions. They flew without their navigation display to the alternative and landed there without incident 45 minutes after taking off.

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