Helicopter design - S92a
Looks like the designer(s) of the MGB and ancilliaries will not be getting an Oscar any day soon. It's interesting that the physical integrity of the AC gens should be dependent on the MGB oil supply.
If one takes the view that 'no oil then no AC is not your biggest problem' then maybe you can hold that up to the certification body as a reasonable analysis but if you then go on to create secondary situations with continued flight being possible with reduced flow then other, nastier, failure modes come into focus.
The only time I have had to deal with a fire in the air was on an S61 when one of the AC gens seized, the quill shaft did not break but instead ripped the AC Gen away from the gearbox and set fire to surrounding trunking and oil soaked cowlings. The only warning we got was an AC gen fail but fortunately we were on final approach when it happened. We ground taxied into dispersal oblivious of the situation until the ground crew started jumping up and down like demented go-go dancers. I hate to think what would have happened if the problem had surfaced on hour earlier over the mountains of Croatia.
Apart from reinforcing my assertion that we should not only teach malfunctions and emergencies according to the RFM but also develop generic solutions for those malfunctions that are not listed therein. We would not have found 'Transmission Deck Fire' in the S61 RFM although maybe after the Lee SAR incident it is now included.
Checklists
The degree to which the S92a checklist is being picked apart by us PPruners is an indication of the extent to which they will be reviewed by the lawyers.
We are faced with a dilemma with checklists insofar as for legal certainty they must derive from the RFM. The basic RFM covers the basic aircraft - no optional equipment is allowed for. To generate a checklist that will work properly with any particular configuration you are left to your own devices to coble together your interpretation of the inputs from maybe up to a dozen RFM Supplements. Where do you stand then? I don't know for sure is the simple answer.
What has worked in the past is that your company Operations Manual (if you are lucky enough to have one) will publish a version of the checklist that you have created and if the OM is then reviewed by the NAA and 'accepted' as meeting their requirements then you are at least in a strong situation.
Ideally the OM will contain the 'Expanded Checklist' with all the notes and cautions but the cockpit checklist needs to be a practical document that contains the minimum information required by a fully trained crew. My experience is that unworkable checklists are set aside in favour of the 'memorised' kind. Emergency Checklists may need some of the notes and cautions but the design and layout - as has been mentioned in a previous post - are critical to the effective use of them. One new type has an Emergency Drill for Hyd Fail with the No. 1 System on the right of the page and the No. 2 on the left of the page. This is completely counter intuitive and I have seen non-English speakers read out the wrong drill (oh dear - I have given the game away!). It's not the only editorial glitch that can add to your problems rather than reduce them but we're working on it.
G.