Dept Brief (please move as reqd)

[chai ja]

Morning guys,

Hoping somebody maybe able to help me out.

I have been flying outside of the airline environment and have adopted a pretty solid brief for flying light jets, however....

I was wondering if anybody had a really good standard brief they wouldnt mind letting me look at for the A320 please? I just got a job with a 320 operator and could use a "decent" airline brief...

Look forward to replies, PM me if you prefer..
thanks

Regards
Chai Ja

[tom775257]

I have worked at two airlines flying the A320, each wanted a different departure brief style..

For what it's worth, the current departure brief I do is along the lines of:

(Basically reading through the perf page to begin with)
Right hand seat departure A321 Runway 33 Birmingham, runway dry, no notams or snags to affect us. No significant weather. Flaps 1+F, eng out accel 1830, Thrust reduction 1830', two eng accel 3330'. Transition alt 4000', V speed are 145, 151, 152.

Next F.plan page:
Departure is a Compton 3D page 10-xx dated 9th jun 08. MSA is 2500' within 25 of BHX, 2200 to the south east'.
MSA's en route above 10,000 begin at:
Notes on the plate top:
Discuss the departure following through on the MCDU and plan mode on the ND checking constraints.

Rad nav page:
Radio aids to back that up are:

Secondary Fplan page.
Discuss what is in the secondary flight plan in case of emergency, discuss weight in case of return to land e.g. overweight Cx required and runway sufficient (with no braking problem)

Then move into an emergency briefing... 'For any failure during start push and taxi.... etc.etc.etc'

At the previous airline they had a checklist for the departure brief, and literally you would go through it step by step.... a lot of it became 'company standard.'

Cheers, and good luck

[chai ja]

Good stuff tom775257.... much appreciated :ok:

[HHI OPS]

You always do a Flaps 1+F Takeoff with the A321?

[B767-383]

This briefing is used on the B738 but I don't see any reason why it couldn't be used on the A320:
1. Aircraft Status (technical issues)
2. Notams
3. WX
4. Briefing: (where am I now & where am I going to go, what do I do when things go wrong, any specials (like low QNH etc))

During taxi a review is performed:
Bleeds, anti ice, dep clearance, Thrust, trim, flaps, transponder, wx radar or terrain display, eng failure plan, specials(wake turb.)

Most items which are always standard are not discussed as this pollutes the briefing and puts your side kick to sleep:ok:

Hopes this helps, good luck with the training.

[FlightDetent]

HHI: only few pay that much attention to my briefings :E

chai ja: Check FCTM, some good guidance, very similar to tom's system. Key differences - extensions (tricky to keep short):
1. NOTAMs
2. AC status
3. Fuel amount and distribution from SD: Fuel pg.
4. INIT B weights & limits, extra time over destination
5. Perf TO pg, FPL-A etc...
Use maximum indicating displays (cleared alt: PFD, navaids: ND/DDRMI, fuel: E/WD, SID cstr: ND) instead of MCDU where available.

FD (the un-real)

[BelArgUSA]

The shorter the briefing, the better, to be performed by the PF.
Or do you want to fall asleep during the briefing...?
In most cases, "standard briefing" is absolutely sufficient.
Specify the SID, verify initial altitude.
And specify intentions for "immediate return" in case of a major problem.
Brief special circumstances, i.e. icing, weather etc.
xxx
I spent half of my career in simulators (747), besides flying the line.
One time, in simulator, being PF, I briefed (for 2 minutes) including...
"Should we have an engine failure before V1 we shall climb runway heading to 800 AGL"
"In case of engine failure after V1 we shall reject, bla bla bla"...
Nobody noticed, nobody listened, nor the F/O, F/E and 2 observers.
Long briefings are just for the pleasure of post-mortem of the CVR.
V1 go-no go is clear and understood from your first performance lessons.
Why have a "Roman Low Mass liturgy" and waste you saliva...?
xxx
:rolleyes:
Happy contrails

[tom775257]

HHI OPS:

At the previous airline we used the Airbus LPC to give optimum flap setting. At the current airline the charts for take-off are based on a given flap setting; in the case of Birmingham 1+F. I was just giving an example brief, for what it's worth :)

Cheers.

[Mach E Avelli]

I am with BelArgUSA. Human attention span is fairly short. Once line training is complete and checked to line, I give my copilots some credit for knowing the basics and SOP. Thereafter, anything which is standard I specifically do NOT brief for fear of sending them to sleep. It should be a given who will do what if an engine fails before V1 and what the clean up drill etc is - just like 'pull back and houses get smaller', we are supposed to know it and do it instinctively. Anything which is different or open to confusion is worth discussion.
I aim to keep briefing to less than 30 seconds. e.g. "Flap.. bleeds OFF takeoff. High ground on left so we turn right. SID turn RIGHT to heading...at..miles but if engine fails turn EARLIER to heading...at.. miles. Climb to.....ft before clean up. Any questions?"
If it's a straight ahead flight path I would probably only state the flap, bleed configuration and clean up height because the rest should be obvious.

[HHI OPS]

@Tom: Ah okay, thank you :)