Airbus A320 - From Cold and Dark to Ready for Taxiing

Video from the channel BAA Training about Airbus A320, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 14:48. Language: English. Video type: Onboard.

A pilot demonstrates, in an Airbus A320 cockpit, the complete start-up of the aircraft, from the "cold and dark" state, with everything switched off, through to being ready to taxi. The exercise is set as a departure from Brussels Airport.

First he checks the thrust levers, the master switches, the parking brake and the gear. He then connects the batteries, tests the APU fire detection and starts the APU. This is followed by the lighting, the displays and the overhead panel flow, from left to right and bottom to top. On it, he tests the data recorder, aligns the three inertial reference units in NAV, opens the APU bleed for the air conditioning packs, sets the fuel pumps to automatic and tests the fire detection on both engines. On the pedestal, he checks the radios, the weather radar, the ECAM pages and the TCAS.

He then initialises the MCDU with a route from Brussels to Brussels, a gross weight of 52.74 tonnes, 8.6 tonnes of fuel, example takeoff speeds and flaps 1. On the FCU he sets the QNH to 1013 and an initial altitude of 4,000 feet. With clearance from control, he starts engines 2 and 1 using the automatic sequence and taxis towards runway 25 left.

The overhead panel flow is used to test systems and switch off all the white lights. The only anomaly shown on the status page, the autopilot 1+2 one, is normal with the engines stopped and the aircraft on the ground.