AIRCRAFT  SYSTEMS AND FLIGHT: FUEL

 There are many components that allow an aircraft to fly. Hydraulic systems, fuel systems and electrical are among the basic components for a successful flight. To achieve enough speed to take off, the aircraft would obviously need an engine. For the engine to function it needs air and fuel. So for me, the basic component needed to achieve flight is fuel. The fuel system is what I'd like to talk about today.

 The fuel system consists of a tank, filter and a pump, if required. There are a few more advanced systems that could be included in the fuel system like heaters to help keep fuel from freezing at low temperatures. For now, i'm sticking to the basic idea of the fuel system. More specifically if the fuel pump for a low wing aircraft were to fail, fuel would not be able to get to the engine in order for the engine to power up. Additionally, the pump would not be available to prime the engine during cold weather operation on certain models. There a couple things that could have happened to the pump that would cause the malfunction, a clogged filter or just simply a bad motor.

 If the pump stopped running, one thing to check could be a clogged filter and is cheaper to replace a filter than a pump, so check that first. Then I would move onto the pump motor itself if the filter is clear. On the surface of the issue, that should get you in the right direction.  But what if you are in flight and you lose your source of fuel to the engine and the pump is working fine during pre-flight? Maybe you forgot to check the water amount in your tank prior to take-off.

 With the water in your fuel source, some aircraft fly at incredible altitudes which I mentioned earlier, is very cold; below freezing. With water in your lines and in your fuel system the water will freeze and then in turn causing catastrophic failure for your power plant (Remer, 2017). This is why checking your tank during pre-flight is one of the most important things you can do before take off.

Our story today takes place on July 23, 1983. It is mid-afternoon at the Montreal airport and Air Canada Flight 143 is preparing to depart, on a domestic flight, heading to the also Canadian city of Edmonton, with a brief layover in Ottawa. The aircraft is a Boeing 767-233, a twin-engine wide-body and medium-long-haul aircraft with capacity for up to 290 passengers. It is the first twin-aisle twin jet developed by Boeing, a large aircraft that we can still see flying today. Commanding the device is Captain Robert Pearson who will be in charge of monitoring the flight during this jump. Pearson is 48 years old and has accumulated some 15,000 flight hours. He is accompanied by the first officer and co-pilot Maurice Quintal, 36 years old and 7,000 flight hours, who will be in charge of the controls. The crew is completed by 6 flight attendants. In addition, on flight 143, initially, 25 passengers travel, so the total number of people on board amounts to 33.

Air Canada Flight 143, operated by a Boeing 767-200, ran out of fuel at an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 meters), almost halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton, Canada. The crew was able to glide the plane to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba. At 41,000 feet the aircraft's flight deck warning system began to sound, indicating a fuel pressure problem on the left side of the aircraft. Believing that one of the fuel pumps had failed, the pilots shut it down, assuming that gravity would cause fuel to feed the two engines. The aircraft's fuel gauges became inoperative. However, the flight computer indicated that there was sufficient fuel for the aircraft, but, as it later turned out, the pilots had entered a wrong fuel calculation. Seconds later a second fuel pressure alarm sounded, so the pilots diverted to Winnipeg. A few seconds later, the left engine failed and they prepared for a single-engine landing.

It would take more than a year and a half for the official investigation to exonerate the captain and hold Air Canada responsible for everything that happened. If the fuel load was miscalculated, it was not due to the captain's negligence, but because there was a lack of adequate training in terms of conversion in the different metric systems. In fact, the report praised the crew for their "professionalism and skill." So much so that, months later, the conditions of this flight were recreated in a simulator in Vancouver with different pilots: they all crashed. The official report further added that Air Canada "refused to clearly and specifically designate responsibility for calculating the amount of fuel," concluding that the company "failed to transfer the task of performing that calculation, which was previously It was done by a flight engineer.

Reference

Remer, Dale. Aircraft Systems for Pilots (4th ed). Aviation Supplies and Academics, Inc.             https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/erau/reader.action?docID=5631254

What Does Ethics in the Aviation Profession Mean to You?

 

The aviator pilot training process must include technical knowledge, abilities, and skills, the development of a high capacity to respond to unusual situations with high decision-making power, and assertiveness to manage complex operational scenarios in a highly developed aviation where the automation has a growing presence; however, training in ethical, cultural, and social aspects is important, as well as developing non-technical but highly relevant skills such as cooperation, leadership, and personal resource management based on a highly developed code of values.

Although quality training and the promotion of values ​​are important in any field, they are even more so in professions linked to the safety of people with direct responsibility for the lives and well-being of others, as is the case of pilots. Human acts in freedom, intelligence and will be based on fundamental values ​​such as respect for human life, honesty, sensitivity, gratitude, respect, prudence, and responsibility must be a constant.

Let us remember that the introduction of ethics and values ​​not only in a theoretical framework but also in a practical one in each of the activities of the pilot, instructor and aviation student, will contribute to improving the quality of aeronautical training and this being the key to maintaining aviation as a the safest means of transport in the world.

Lets talk about spirit,

In 2013, Skytrax, an air-travel consultancy, downgraded its rating of Spirit to make it the nation’s only two-star carrier. The distinction reflects “a poor standard of Product and/or poor and inconsistent standards of Staff Service delivery,” placing Spirit in a colorful group of carriers that includes national airlines for failed states, like Syrianair and Yemenia, as well as Indonesia’s Merpati Nusantara Airlines, which suspended service last February when 50 of its 178 pilots resigned after not having been paid for a quarter.

The downgrade by Skytrax coincided with a five-year period when Spirit led all major US airlines in the number of complaints filed with the Department of Transportation. Between 2009 and 2013, passengers on Spirit were nearly three times as likely to file a complaint as passengers on any other airline, and more remarkable yet, every year the volume of complaints grew. By the fall of last year, the Spirit experience had become so notorious among travelers that a Timeonline poll found that, by a small margin, respondents preferred the possibility of flying with snakes to abiding it.

The Operating Environment and Aircraft Performance

ICING

Environmental factors are a constant threat for aircraft and their crew. Many different environmental factors can have a drastic effect and change an ordinary flight in to one you won't forget. I have had firsthand experience with, in my opinion, one of the more serious environmental factors, ice. Aircraft are no strangers to ice, but it's when the ice becomes thick enough and starts to disrupt the fundamental principals that make the aircraft fly that it gets serious. Ice can affect the aircraft in three main ways: weight, lift, and drag. Think of a boat out at sea in the winter, the deckhands are out there with hammers trying to break off the ice, because if they don't the ship could sink. The same thing can happen for an aircraft, too much weight is dangerous. Ice can accumulate on all surfaces of an aircraft, but when it accumulates on the airfoil surfaces this begins to limit the amount of lift the aircraft can generate. Ice effectively changes the shape of the wings, making them less efficient. The third aspect of icing is drag. Aircraft surfaces are meticulously engineered to be as aerodynamic as possible and any unwanted addition to that surface can cause flight control problems and increase your fuel consumption drastically.

There are many effects icing can have on an aircraft. Many of which can be mitigated by simply flying around known icing conditions. However, that's not always possible. Anti-icing systems on aircraft have become very reliable, and work off a very simple ideal, hot air. The aircraft's bleed air system can send hot air to the parts of the aircraft most susceptible to icing, such as the wings and engines. This keeps the surfaces free of any ice accumulation and prevents the problems I spoke of earlier. It's the job of the crew to keep out of known icing areas and know how and when to use the aircrafts anti-icing system to prevent any mishaps. 

Icing which can be very dangerous if not corrected immediately. This is any deposit or coating of ice on an object. Ice can collect on any component of the aircraft to include wings, props, windshields and air intakes. Basically, the ice limits all aspects of performance such as increased drag, increased weight, decreased lift and reduced thrust. A couple mitigating methods include anti-freeze fluids and heating devices. These can be used to remove ice and prevent it from collecting. When neither of the mitigating methods work then avoidance is the only option. "When ice formation is observed in flight, there is only one certain method of avoiding its hazards and that is to get out of the ice-forming layer as quickly as possible." (weather.gov)

References:

Icing Hazards (weather.gov)