A320: EVAC call to ATC
 

Why is the call to ATC handled by a different pilot during EVAC drill after RTO and after Landing?

If anyone would share the wisdom, much appreciated. It's been like this for quite some time ...

Thanks, more and more I find myself unable to memorize things without understanding the underlying reasons.

During a rejected take off, the captain always take over and initiate the rejected take-off.
Therefore the FO will have the communication and make the first contact to ATC as soon as the parking brake is set. The captain is responsible to stop the aircraft, set the parking brake and advise « cabin crew at your station ». Only during ecam actions and if emergency evacuation is required he will talk to ATC. That’s how we are trained.

Logical and neat. The FCTM explains, however, that after RTO the ATC will be advised of the evacuation by F/O. Why?

For any other EVAC, the Captain takes over as well and calls for the EVAC c/l. Which is performed by the F/O. And the Captain advises ATC at it's end.

Should the situation indeed requires a physical escape, to be decided at the end of the c/l, it is initiated with three steps:
. PA
. horn
. atc notification.

I fail to see what the difference is at that stage, based whether it is an
- RTO (when the captain assumes the controls at "STOP")
- other urgent need (for which the captains takes over before commanding the EVAC c/l).

??? Have I been reading to books wrong?

Are you not confusing the calls made by the FO. During the RTO the FO calls ATC to say "stopping" not that they will be evacuating.

I was thinking the same. I was checking just now our SOP and FCTM, The only time the FO talked to ATC is to advise " Stopping" after reversers are stowed (FCTM). In our SOP, this call is only made after the CM1 has set the parking brakes.

In our FCTM A320 under AEP-MISC-EMER EVAC:
"EVACUATION…INITIATE requires the captain confirmation that the emergency evacuation is still required. If still required, the captain notifies the cabin crew to start the evacuation.
The F/O advises the ATC."

After RTO we use the same Task Sharing:
CM1 initiates the evacuation via PA. In the meantime CM2 makes the call to ATC.

LW20

This is a situation where time is of essence. So in this drill the cockpit splits into two parts. Communication with the ATC is handled by CM2 and Cabin crew calls are handled by Captain. Once ATC has been advised by FO about stopping and ECAM is ordered the captain plays no further part in the ECAM. CM2 executes all actions on his own. Captain only assesses EVAC possibility. He may have to talk to fire chief or ATC in this regard. After the FO completes ECAM and comes to EVAC REQUIRED line then they come together and CM1 will exercise one of the options. When he orders EVAC same time FO informs ATC. No wastage of precious time.

That’s not how we do it. ATC are notified during the evac checklist/ECAM by CM1 (who takes the radios prior to any ECAM/QRH/ABNORMAL proc). If you subsequently choose not to evacuate then great, no harm, no foul but if you continue the evacuation then at least the services are already enroute.

Vilas, how do you match your previous-from-the-last sentence against the wording of FCTM I quoted?
---
With respect and plea for understanding, I am now actually looking for (even if unnecessary) formal and thorough compliance with the FCTM wording.

Otherwise I know how to share the workload, get the message out pronto, without overstepping each other. The environment tomorrow does require staying firmly inside the printed boundaries, however.

At this stage, what the FCTM says I just don't get it.

🤗

What does your FCTM/OM-B say for the step by step procedure? Every company will have their own way of doing it (as you can see by this thread).. for instance, if the SOP is to call ATC to tell them you are evacuating comes before the checklist then I can see why it would be a CM2 task as they would (presumably) be PM for the RTO.

Glas, that’s not relevant at this stage. I appreciate your willingness, the thing I raised really is about “interperetation of explicit wording in the Airbus OEM FCTM”.

The FCTM is normally customized for your airline so I guess it's normal to see some differences in the procedure. Our FCTM clearly states exactly as Vilas explained above except that the CM1 will normally talk to ATC after evacuation is initiated. But of course he can delegate this task to the CM2.

I joined below an extract from our SOPM for the rejected take off procedure.

https://ibb.co/du9PS7

Edit: Sorry FlightDetent, I realise now it does not answer your question.. Lol.
Maybe if the situation is really critical they assume it should be the captain duty to talk to ATC? Just a guess. I'm confused too reading your FCTM extract. xD

But it brings up the can of worms VHF1 .... USE. :E. Talk to you later...

It’s hard to interpret it without seeing the rest of the procedure. We don’t have that note in ours.

I don’t understand the problem with that. Both ACPs, Capt and FO are useable on battery power

Attachment 4553 that's 2013 edition. The one previous I have is 2007 and no such note there.

Good question. Any more answers?