A320 Brake Insp. Status CAT 3 Single?
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A320 Brake Insp. Status CAT 3 Single?
Hi guys,
We just had a 320 with one brake Inop. There's a Mel procedure which says we are now limited to cat 3 single. Not sure why is that? The brakes don't generate a ecam message and I looked into the req for cat 3 and those things are all working. Any hints?
We just had a 320 with one brake Inop. There's a Mel procedure which says we are now limited to cat 3 single. Not sure why is that? The brakes don't generate a ecam message and I looked into the req for cat 3 and those things are all working. Any hints?
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Sorry don't understand that. Auto brake is no requirement for cat 3 as it is not mentioned in our tables in the qrh. I can fly without auto brake and do a low vis cat 3 dual approach. Despite that the system can't downgrade because of a open brake in flight right?
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Cat 3 stuff is always a bit of a weird deal. There are so many variables in how people do it that it's hard to answer in your particular case. For instance, we had a possible stuck brake on a 321. It was inspected and found to be serviceable, but the aircraft was downgraded to Cat 1 because the inspection was done by a non-LMP mechanic. Perhaps you're dealing with something similar.
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If you look at the MEL item for the wheel brake, it says CAT 3 DUAL is not available. The item has an operational procedure, which says that you shouldn't use the autobrake for landing.
If you take a further look as to the autobrake item in the MEL, you will see that it also happens to say CAT 3 DUAL is not available, if the autobrake is inop. I doubt that's a coincidence.
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Makes sense to me. No autobrake means no automatic rollout* (since even careful braking is liable to result in autopilot disconnection through rudder pedal movement on touchdown, particularly in a crosswind).
* Yes, yes, you could technically land on a really long runway with reverse only and not touch the brakes, but the MEL has to cover the most restrictive scenario...
* Yes, yes, you could technically land on a really long runway with reverse only and not touch the brakes, but the MEL has to cover the most restrictive scenario...
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As FS said, both items downgrade capability to cat 3 single. If I'm not mistaken you need both A/skid and A/brk to do an autoland.
Furthermore, the QRH list of equipment is to be used only after in-flight failures, not for dispatch.
Furthermore, the QRH list of equipment is to be used only after in-flight failures, not for dispatch.
