A319/A320/A321 Pilot? Suggestions for ECAM Modification

[rmcfarlane]

I am a final year degree student working on a project to modify some of the current ECAM displays onboard current Airbus aircraft, in line with pilot preference and human factors.

Current ideas floating are a tail-wind speed indicator on the cruise page and to redesign the current gauges (i.e. the vibration indicator), but can be anything like changing font size or colours. If anyone has any ideas or gripes with the current system your suggestions on how to improve this already good product would be greatly recieved.

Also, any hints as to which information you personally like to monitor during the CRUISE segment of your flight would be a great help, weither you fly AIRBUS or not.

If you are a pilot replying, could you please give me your aircraft type along with on-type hours.

Thanks everyone in advance,

Robbie

[leftseatview]

Hi,
i have always felt that the Speed tape on the PFD(Primary Flt Display) needs to be turned around on its head.
the low speeds on top and hi speeds at the bottom.
That is more in "correct sense" with the side stick demand and its result on aircraft speed(when autothrust is out of the active range....as is invariably the case in a Go-around)
i strongly suspect this to be the final link in the chain of events that led to the "Gulf Air" A320 accident into Bahrain in 2000.
Having the hi speed on top of the tape results in the
red VMO/MMO warnings coming down from the top as the a/c approches an overspeed situation.
Following a 2 engine go-around if the a/c is not rotated up to the correct go-around attitude,an overspeed situation can develop very rapidly indeed.
in a low experience/high stress scenerio, the "gut-reaction" to the loud audio warning and red tape on top,might well be to push the stick further forward.(away from the red)
Infact that is exactly how we fly in response to a TCAS RA on the Vertical Speed tape.
The last 9 seconds on the ill fated Gulf Air DFDR record a positve forward push on the Capts sidestick.
It is my firm beleif that had the spedd tape been the other way around this accident would not have taken place.
Having the lowspeed warnings on top also makes perfect sense to me as a former glider pilot---push the stick forward to get out of a lowenergy situation.

We definatly have a long way to go towards improving Flt Deck Display and Control design
All the best in your efforts

P.S. i am an A320 Capt with a total of about 5000hrs on type

[FLY BY WIRE]

I'm not sure i'd agree with Leftseats view on changing the speed tape arround as i think it could become very confusing.
As it is, all the high units on the PFD are at the top, eg high speed, high attitude, high altitude and high v/s and to swap one to read the other way, particularly as it would go against the instinctive thrust lever direction ie. forward = faster, backwards = slower, would in my opinion, create a large potential for confusion.
What i would love to see is a pictoral indication of fuel quantity, that is a dial or bar type display as well as the quantity in the form of a number as it is now.
More ideas as i think of them.
A320/321 Captain, 3500 hrs on type.
FBW

[Lemurian]

Hello,these are my desiderata :
-A distance scale on the RMI so that a quick check on validity of Nav could be performed(a la Boeing 744 and ulterior models).
-A complete re design of the hyd schematics (a reservoir quantity gauge instead of the hard to read minuscule vertical scale)
-Crew O2 pressure AND quantity on the cruise page instead of the Door page(???????:confused:
-A low tyre press alarm.
320 family captain.3500 hours on type.

[mono]

At the risk of sounding like a pedant....

I agree with Lemurian that O2 pressure on ECAM cruise page would not be a bad idea. However it is impossible for the quantity to be indicated as well, as the airbus oxygen is stored in a gaseous state. It is therefore always full!! Basic gaseous laws man! The volume remains constant and the pressure reduces. Therefore the pressure IS in fact an indication of available quantity.

Engineer, 8 years on type

[square leg]

What would be good apart from the Oxy on the cruise page, would be to have a Master Caution when the Oxy goes below 800 psi for example, or at least if you can convince them to put Oxy on the cruise page to have the colour change to amber when the psi falls below a predetermined value.

Maybe the VIB's could be in larger font.

Don't change the airspeed tape. That would be like telling people in the UK to drive on the right and to expect no accidents from one day to the next.

Regards

[Lemurian]

Mono,
I certainly agree with you on the physics...Problem is,we have two kinds of O2 reservoirs on the fleet...and more than 100 planes...So one has to take AFM vol1/limitations,compute the ref temperature,go to the equipment of the aiplane one will be flying that day and determine the O2 min press you will be allowed with two,three or four people on the flight deck for dispatch.
In flight it would be nice to know how much O2 I have at my disposal (100% or diluted) instead of just being assured that this minimum copes with the national O2 requirement during an emergency descent.
Do I make sense now?I was'nt very clear before.Apologies.

[rmcfarlane]

thanks everyone for you comments, they are proving to be quite valuble (no you wont be paid!).

The current direction of the project is to redesign a few of the components of the CRUISE page and these are:
To rethink the vibration indication, i.e to make the numbers double in size, change to amber at a high value etc.
To display the highest value of VIB reached since startup.
To display the OXY displays (after multiple requests)
To indicate the law of operation, i.e. direct law etc....

I wont be fiddling with the speed tape, dont worry!!!

If any of you have some free time in the next few months, and want to do an hour or so in the BAE flight deck sim flying the new displays to help me out, please let me know!

Thanks again,

Robbie

[rmcfarlane]

Well....15000 words later the project is complete.

Unfortunately i lost a bit of structure later on, but i think i have raised some good points. Hopefully i'll finish with a good mark.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, very much appreciated.

Though you might be interested in the final design of the gauge, the project looked at conceptual designs as well, involving polygons but i dont believe there is much viability in using them for commerical aircraft.

Final Cruise Page (http://www.webworx-ie.com/images/cruise.jpg)

Thanks again for all your help,

Regards,

Robbie