Operational Procedures
Operational Procedures is the flight-deck rulebook: what you must carry, brief and do when things go wrong. Questions mix GCAR/ICAO requirements with practical emergency drills.
Documents, MEL and dispatch
- Certificate of airworthiness, registration, crew licences, operations manual, technical log, journey log and insurance must be on board.
- The MEL allows dispatch with specified items inoperative, but never with an item affecting airworthiness unless the MEL permits it.
- A take-off alternate is required when destination weather is at or below the approach minima and no other suitable aerodrome is available within the defined time.
- ETOPS approval depends on diversion time, aircraft type and maintenance.
Emergencies
- Distress call 'MAYDAY' (three times), urgency 'PAN PAN'; transponder 7700/7600/7500; the 406 MHz ELT activates on impact or manually.
- Engine fire: confirm, close the fuel and bleed, discharge the bottle, land as soon as possible. Depressurisation: masks on, establish communications, descend to 10 000 ft or MSA.
- Rejected take-off before V1; after V1 continue unless the aircraft is unsafe.
- Evacuation: 90-second certification standard; brief able-bodied passengers; command 'evacuate' only when needed.
Oxygen and crew rules
- Flight crew must use oxygen continuously when cabin altitude exceeds 13 000 ft, and for the periods above 10 000 ft beyond 30 minutes; passengers must be supplied above 15 000 ft.
- Sterile flight deck below 10 000 ft except in critical phases; no smoking; low-visibility take-off requires specific approval.
Worked example
A cabin altitude of 14 000 ft is sustained for two hours after a pressurisation failure. Crew must be on oxygen continuously (above 13 000 ft), and the aircraft should descend to 10 000 ft or the MSA, whichever is higher, using the emergency descent and notifying ATC with PAN PAN. If fuel permits, divert to a lower-elevation aerodrome; oxygen duration, not comfort, sets the limit.
Traps
Dispatching with an MEL item not on the approved list; confusing 7700 with 7600; treating PAN PAN as unimportant for ATC priority; and forgetting the oxygen threshold is cabin altitude, not aircraft altitude.