Airbus - Limitations
 

Im interested in what different Airline operaters expectations are in regards to memorising limitations published within the FCOM? While many of the limitations need to be recalled in flight, some are impractical to commit to memory.

I have been told some operator's will customise their FCOM and indicate some limitations that must be memorised?

Thank you.

Must be learned by heart. In Russia.

The entire section?

Yes! No FCOM customisation ,except RCAM max X-wind. All additional limtations are published in company FOM.

In the US, you're required to be familiar with all operating limitations, but some must be memorised, and that list varies from company to company. Some silly examples are fuel imbalance limits and crosswind limits for autoland.

Sergei.a320

Strange. Do you have to know the flap speeds and APU operational envelope as well?

In my outfit we have to remember everything as well. There’s nothing stopping us from referring to the books as and when it is required, but when it comes to licence renewal sim we would be asked randomly and we should at least have made an effort to remember them.

Thankfully instructors don’t ask the silly ones. :}

IMHO you should be able to recall everything you might need to know immediately. eg. Speeds for wipers and gear etc.

Anything that is not urgent (can be thought about in a non dynamic environment - e.g. time between manual engine starts) should at least be able to be located promptly in the manuals. Even the obscure ones should be able to be located promptly. Especially with digital search functions these days.

People should also understand how to properly use the Boolean search functionality in the Flysmart app, and manual selection to narrow down search strings.

For those not urgent/dynamic you should at least know they exist. Given EFIS displays with color codes for insufficient values, dynamic redlines, etc. it does not make sense to memorise everything from the limitations section.

Check Airman

Yes! And I also agree with dream747.

Our memory item criteria: It is a safety-of-flight item, there isn’t time to reference the manual, or there is no associated indicator marking, placard, warning light or other indication available in the cockpit for immediate reference.

I would have thought that if you need to ask 'Is this too quick for the wipers' then you probably don't need the wipers!

Limitations are not memory items. They are good to know but not required to memorize to safely operate the aircraft. Must have a great memory to remember all of them especially if you flying multiple types. The relevant limitations are always displayed in front of you.

TopBunk

Haha. Exactly my thought too. I still remember it tho thanks to this Mnemonic for A320: « Too dirty two thirty (230) » xD.

I always thought Limitations are protected on ECAM i.e. there's an attention getter for every AFM limit except one (Fuel Freeze temp limitation on Jet A).

And outside of the SAT envelope.

...and gear extension

I'm not able to memorise all of them. Maybe I'm getting old. I only know the relevant and frequently used limitations. For the others, I occasionally review them on my summary sheet.
Too many variants with different limitations in our fleet.

It was never mandatory to know all of them at any of the airlines I've worked for. As long as you know the basics and you're able to find the other quickly if you need them.