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Old 26th Aug 2011, 01:05
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A33Zab
 
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@AZR:

By Joelle Barthe

Flight Operations Engineer

Published on SafetyFirst #5
December 2007

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5 Back UP Speed Scale (BUSS)
In order to dedrease the crew workload in case of unreliable speed, Airbus has developed the Back-UP Speed Scale (BUSS) that replaces the pitch and thrust table. The BUSS is optional on A320/A330/A340. It is basic on A380, being part of the ADR Monitoring functions.
This indication is based on angle of atack (AOA) sensor information, and is therefore not affected by erroneous pressure measumements.
The BUSS comes with a new ADIRU standard (among other new system standards), where the AOA information is provided through the IRs and not through the ADRs. This enables selecting all ADRs off without loosing the STALL WARNING PROTECTION.

EDITmeans actual AoA is always available whatever CAS)

The AOA information provides a guidance area in place of the speed scale. When the crew selects all ADRs OFF, then:
- The Back-Up Speed Scale replaces the PFD speed scale on both PFDs,
- GPS Altitude replaces the Altitude Scale on both PFDs.

The Back-Up Speed Scale then enables to fly at a safe speed, i. e. above stall speeds, by adjusting thrust and pitch.
The BUSS will be displayed once all ADRs are switched OFF. Therefore, on aircraft that have the BUSS, when the flight crew cannot identify the faulty ADR(s) when performing the troubleshooting, or when all ADRs are affected, the flight crew will switch OFF ADRs, and will fly the green area of the BUSS.

However, if the safe conduct of the flight is affected, the memory items must still be applied before troubleshooting.
As the BUSS is associated to the ADR monitoring funcitions, some unreliable speed situations can be automatically detected (e. g. new ECAM warning "NAV ADR 1+2+3 FAULT"), and some ECAM procedures will lead to the BUSS activation by requesting to switch OFF all ADRs.
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And this why AF didn't installed the BUSS option:

The "Backup Speed Scale" or BUSS is a tool which pilots use when speed indications cannot be used.
To use the BUSS, the crew must first disconnect the three ADRs (air data reference - anemometric stations). Once these have been disconnected, the crew can no longer use them during the flight.
With the BUSS system, speed is no longer calculated by the Pitot probes, but by the aircraft's incidence probes. The speed indication, which is less precise, is presented in the form of green, ambre and red stripes. In a high turbulence situation at high altitude, the speed indication given is very unstable and difficult to use.
On its A330s and A340s, Air France considered installing the BUSS system offered by Airbus and carried out tests on its flight simulators These tests did not lead Air France to adopt this system.
This is because it has the incovenience of depriving the crew of anemometric data during the flight once the BUSS system is activated, whereas experience has shown that the loss of speed indication is generally for a short time only. Moreover, the system is difficult to use at high altitude.
This has been confirmed by Airbus which recommends in a FOT (Flight Operations Telex) dated 9 September 2009 not to use this system at an altitude higher than 250, i.e. 7,600 metres (25,000 feet).
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