A couple of people have hinted at the question, but I'll ask outright in case someone can answer: How quickly could you just start everything up sans checklist in an emergency? I thought I saw a couple of switches which actually started the engines, but I assume that at least some of the preparatory steps are required.
How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
31–40 of 58 posts
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#32Here's a 10:55 video going through the process of starting up a A-10 in the DCS A-10 simulator, with the guy actually explaining what each step does unlike OP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xWYLlhFwg
I wish there was a global YouTube switch to filter out all flightsim videos. I don't know how many times I've search for xxx landing at yyy only to find some PC flightsim with annoying music in the background.
You can't have that, categorization is way too complicated for YouTube. YouTube is for everyone, not just nerds!
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#33I imagine there's some reason for the different switch: toggles, buttons, etc.
All comes down to UX. Simple example: the switches for the lights are oriented to turning them on is the same as pushing them forward (I.e. The direction the lights point in).
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#34Why aren't all these switches hooked to a computer which could run the whole procedure?
What happens if the computer malfunctions in mid-flight?
Many modern airliners actually have computers which will display common checklists and check off items that have been completed automatically. The reason they don't make this fully automated is because a malfunction in the computer, or a bug in the software, or a situation the checklists did not forsee could be disastrous. Having the pilots in the loop adds an important sanity check.
Note also that a lot of the steps in the procedure are testing warning lights and sounds, which really does require a human in the loop to listen or look at the alarm in question to verify it's going off.
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of it. The pilot is going through a checklist. The checklist is not going to have unnecessary steps in it. When pilots don't follow the checklist sometimes they die, so they are pretty religious about following the checklist. That is a pretty new 737 (someone speculated 737-800). Note the flat panel primary displays (color LCDs), that is the tip-off that this is pretty new. P.S. There is a small piece of me in th…
Out of interest: which part of the fms did you build? And thanks: I lovend working with it.
I wrote a lot of the "Dual FMS" BootROM and also the cross-FMS data link communications handling (TCP/IP originally over a high baud rate async serial channel). Most of my code is deeply embedded.
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#36Well.....what could possibly go wrong there? There have been several air disasters over the years that resulted from a failure to flip the right switch or check certain settings, either in-flight or pre-flight. A Greek crash where the pilot forgot to flip the auto-pressurization switch, killing most on board before the crash itself, comes to mind. This video leaves little wonder why these things happen. Having spent…
I don't know. At work, I'm responsible for the regression test. I wrote the regression test. And I have a check list with 52 items required to run it (step 50 is actually running the test, the next item is making sure it's running, and the 52nd item is "walk away for the next five hours"). Could it be simpler? Yes, but it would require even more setup (since it involves generating several datasets that are copied to four machines), making sure configuration files are up to date (less an issue now than when we first started), and could involve restarting named (since one of the datasets is a particular zone file), and then starting up the various programs across all four systems.
And then, the testing environment changes. This time, it's two machines (can you tell this happened?). Not four. At least with doing this huge checklist each time, I know the steps well enough to adapt the procedure (okay, I need to mentally translate machine "foo and bar" to "snafu"). Automated, it would require extensive testing just so we can run our tests ...
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#37Well.....what could possibly go wrong there? There have been several air disasters over the years that resulted from a failure to flip the right switch or check certain settings, either in-flight or pre-flight. A Greek crash where the pilot forgot to flip the auto-pressurization switch, killing most on board before the crash itself, comes to mind. This video leaves little wonder why these things happen. Having spent…
I was also thinking about this. Even if the controls and procedures remain completely unchanged, it should be possible to issue warnings when things were done wrong. In fact I'd be surprised if this wasn't at least partially implemented already.
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of it. The pilot is going through a checklist. The checklist is not going to have unnecessary steps in it. When pilots don't follow the checklist sometimes they die, so they are pretty religious about following the checklist. That is a pretty new 737 (someone speculated 737-800). Note the flat panel primary displays (color LCDs), that is the tip-off that this is pretty new. P.S. There is a small piece of me in th…
Out of interest: which part of the fms did you build? And thanks: I lovend working with it.
[deleted]
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of interest: which part of the fms did you build? And thanks: I lovend working with it.
I wrote a lot of the "Dual FMS" BootROM and also the cross-FMS data link communications handling (TCP/IP originally over a high baud rate async serial channel). Most of my code is deeply embedded.
Awesome!!! Never knew it actually operates over TCP/IP, I always assumed some custom protocol/ARINC interop between the two units. Can you perhaps elaborate in some way on the dev environment When working on "stuff like that"? :)
Re: How to start up a Boeing 737 [video]
#40Well.....what could possibly go wrong there? There have been several air disasters over the years that resulted from a failure to flip the right switch or check certain settings, either in-flight or pre-flight. A Greek crash where the pilot forgot to flip the auto-pressurization switch, killing most on board before the crash itself, comes to mind. This video leaves little wonder why these things happen. Having spent…
Not saying you're entirely wrong, but there's a difference between incidental vs necessary complexity, and a web UI is not even remotely similar to an avionics dashboard. There might be something we software people could teach those in avionics, but I'd imagine the reverse is actually much more the case.
In fact, ergonomics was started by research during WW2 to reduce airplane accidents caused by human error. There's a reason flying is the safest mode of transportation today, and efforts in ergonomics play a big role. For example, the gears are placed in standardized locations / have standardized shapes to prevent pilots from using the wrong ones while in panic mode.