We continued to work through failures this week, but with the more modern simulator '599' were able to complete exercises with an increased sense of realism. Starting out we looked at the pressurisation systems, and therefore the sorts of scenario's we'd be in requiring an emergency descent. An emergency descent is what you see on TV when a naf documentary is showing an aircraft in a dive, but they have their details slightly mixed up so give the impression that a door blowing out is what caused the aircraft to fall into an uncontrollable dive. The reality is totally different, and it is the pilots that initiate the fast descent in order to preserve the lives of the passengers and for more suitable conditions (its a rather chilly -50 degrees at 36,000ft!). For the crew it isnt just a case of holding ones breath and hoping you make it down in time, so the (not so) wonderful oxygen masks come out to play.
For pressurisation we looked at pack failures, leaks, and explosive decompressions (bomb explosion), the common theme being that we had to get the aircraft down quickly without falling into a blind panic. Thats easier said than done, as you only have a few seconds to get your mask on before your body is rapidly put outside its survivable comfort zone, so the simulator detail does its best to mimic these conditions. The real core learning point though was the immediate memory drill actions both pilots have to follow, and these must be committed to memory but readily retrieved as an emergency descent could happen anytime. Worse yet, if one crewmember leaves the flight deck to use the lavatory, the remaining pilot must remember to do both pilots actions, and shouldnt expect their collegue to return to the flight deck until the emergency descent is complete.
We also looked at engine failures, which was more of revision than learning. Thats not to say I was textbook on my first go, but it was good to brush up on something that makes up a substantial part of the LST (licence skills test). I think the main point I have taken from the single engine exercise is that being proactive (more than usual) is the best way to counter the numerous threats that exist in this unusual scenario.
Finally we closed the week with one of the scariest situations a crew could be exposed with, smoke on the flight deck. What makes the situation so awful is that smoke will be coming from a combustable source, and if it's already burning how long will it take for the fire to be so bad that it burns through vital components. Equally the smoke itself is highly toxic, but worse it can fog vision to the extent instruments are caked in soot and need to be wiped. To help raise the simulation, CT599 being one of the newest sims actually produces smoke which is similar to the dry ice from a school disco (the picture shows me coming to the end of the smoke clearance). It quickly flooded the flight deck so we had to don the masks, and with one of us scrabbling to get the aircraft down the other would be working through the Quick reference handbook (QRH) smoke procedure, followed up by the clearance drill. All in all I have firmly established that I would rather lose both engines and bring my gliding skills into play than have to deal with smoke; you just dont know how long you have a flyable aircraft for, but at least with a double flame out sticking the nose down means gravity's on your side. Obviously neither is particularly pleasant, but it's amazing how what on first inspection is the worst problem actually might be the more manageable!
So I now find myself with only 5 more instructional flights before my big day and the LST. The last two instructional flights I will actually be flying as a pair with Steph, which means we have extra time to consolidate any deficiencies and practice until we are above the standard required to pass the type rating. In less than two weeks it's all over, and ill be finishing one journey eagerly awaiting the start of the next!
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