tubby linton
14th Jul 2015, 11:43
I have noticed from various accident and incident reports that the Airbus 320F performs a number of tests in flight that are transparent to the crew.
For example the incidents with the nose wheel leg at ninety degrees it was established, that the material fatigue of the anti-rotation lugs was produced by the pre-landing steering tests performed by the BSCU. After centering the nose wheels the BSCU would command the nose gear to rotate 2.5 degrees to the left, center again, 2.5 degrees to right and center again. Such a cycle takes about 5 seconds. In average 57 such cycles are performed for each flight.Airbus subsequently modified the software of the BSCU to reduce the number of left/right pre-landing steering test cycles to 8
The accident report to the A319 at LHR mentions about a braking system self test ( which one of the brake units failed)
My question is what other system testing is going on that the pilot is unaware of?
For example the incidents with the nose wheel leg at ninety degrees it was established, that the material fatigue of the anti-rotation lugs was produced by the pre-landing steering tests performed by the BSCU. After centering the nose wheels the BSCU would command the nose gear to rotate 2.5 degrees to the left, center again, 2.5 degrees to right and center again. Such a cycle takes about 5 seconds. In average 57 such cycles are performed for each flight.Airbus subsequently modified the software of the BSCU to reduce the number of left/right pre-landing steering test cycles to 8
The accident report to the A319 at LHR mentions about a braking system self test ( which one of the brake units failed)
My question is what other system testing is going on that the pilot is unaware of?