Airbus has landed its biggest-ever order with budget airline investor Indigo Partners signing a deal to buy 430 jets.

The agreement, for Airbus’s best-selling A320 family of small airliners, is worth a $49.5bn at list prices.

Although the order - for 273 A320neos and 157 A321neos - has a list value of almost $50bn, Indigo is unlikely to pay anywhere near as much. The A320neo is priced at $108m and the larger A321neo at $127m but manufacturers offer large discounts on jets. Such a massive order is likely to mean a bigger than normal price reduction.

As analysts digested the order - almost twice the size of the company's previous largest deal,  a $26bn sale of 250 A320s to an Indian budget airline - Mr Leahy revealed another sales success. Dublin-based lease company CDB Aviation confirmed MoUs for 90 A320neos.

The order takes Airbus’s backlog of work on the A320 family of jets to almost 6,000 - the equivalent of almost a decade's work. The company has delivered nearly 8,000 of the aircraft since they were introduced 30 years ago.

Fuel Leak

This week Matt and Andy go through the QRH procedure of a fuel leak and discuss some failure management tips.

There is information in the FCTM-AO-028 and of course the QRH-ABN-28

 This week we also have an exclusive offer only available to A320 Podcast listeners:

Aviation Insider has given all our listeners a 10% discount on their A320 Question Bank. To take advantage of this great offer, click on the link below and enter the code a32010

https://www.aviationinsider.co.uk/product/a320-type-rating-question-bank/

This week Matt is solo and talks about what a tailpipe fire is and how to deal with it.

As an easy summary - cut off the fuel source and then ventilate.

Do this by turning the engine master switch off and then engine mode selector to crank, man start on.

Check out your manuals for more information.

QRH ABN 70

FCTM NO-030 & AO-070

FCOM PRO-ABN-70

This week Matt & Andy take a look at the ECAM system and how to run failures.

They discuss the system itself and how it works, how airbus expect us to run a failure using it and then finally, how to use ECAM if it fails.

More info can be found in the FCTM OP-040 ECAM

We also recommend using 'Read ECAM' which can be found at www.ipadecam.co.uk for practicing using ECAM and going through difference scenarios.

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Check out our Facebook page where you'll find the example figures talked about in this episode.

For more information, here are some references 

FCOM DSC-22_30-90 SPEED mode in approach phase

FCOM PRO-SUP-10 OTHER SPEEDS

FCTM NO-110

• 29 March 2015
• A320 Toronto - Halifax
• Winter time, forecast in Halifax wind 15kts G25 with moderate drifting snow and a temp of -5 and vis 1/2sm (800m).
• In cruise, received METAR 1/4sm vis (400m) with heavy snow NOTAMED that Glide path U/S so they set up for a LOC only.
• Calculated cold temp correction for FAF alt, MDA and GA alt.
• Calculated FAF to be 2200ft ASL (+200ft correction) MDA they added 23ft for temp and 50ft for the company
• see FCTM - SI -010 (approach)
• Using their company qrh converter the adjusted the FPA from 3.1 to 3.5°
• In level flight before reaching the FAF they pulled FPA and selected 0 0.3nm before FAF they selected fpa -3.5
• As the a/c descended it diverged from the desired profile due to wind variations. This divergences continued throughout the approach.
• A 400’ auto call out was made as they descended through MDA 1.2nm from threshold
• PM called “minimum, lights only” as per their SOP. The aircraft was 1nm from the threshold now.
• PF saw the approach lights and called landing
• At MDA the aircraft was 0.3nm further back than published
• At 0.7nm from threshold crew confirmed visual with the approach lights. The reports says they were over a lighted facility.
• AP was disconnected just above 100' RA
• At the 50ft auto callout the PM called "pull up"
• The aircraft struck and severed a power line that was perpendicular to the runway causing power outage to the terminal
• TOGA was selected about 1 second before ground impact and a full, pull up, demand was made on the side stick.
• The left landing gear struck an approach light about 860ft before the threshold. Then the main landing gear, aft fuselage and the left engine hit the snow covered ground, bounced, took out the LOC antenna, bouncing twice more before skidding along the runway, coming to rest about 1900ft after the threshold.
• Power to the aircraft was lost during the ground contacts leaving only the emergency lights on in the cabin.
• Pax were evacuated successfully with no deaths. 1 cabin crew member was seriously injured and the were 25 minor injuries.
• The flight crew were pretty experienced with the Captain having over 5700 hours and the FO 6300 hours on type.
• Errors/factors The Auto pilot limitation on a NPA is AT MDA. AP was actually disconnected 23 seconds after passing MDA Didn't monitor DIST/ALT table on chart. "At Air Canada, the use of dist/alt table on jepp charts as a monitoring tool is not cited during pilot training fro loc/npas CT (canadian CAA/FAA) didnt raise this as an issue at any inspections. This is critical because of the limitations of the FPA

• According to the report, Air Canada pilots didnt have access to the FCOM, only the company manuals. FCOM doesnt offer any guidance on how to adjust the FPA e.g how much for how long.
• For your info, 0.1º change will affect the a/c path by 10ft over the next NM so for example if youre on a 3º glide and youre 30ft high at a height check, increasing the FPA to will get you back on profile in 1 NM. so 0.1º per 10ft. just remember to reset to 3º once its back on profile!
• Contrary to this, "air canada's practice was the, once the a/c was past the FAF, flight crews were not required to monitor the a/c's alt and dist from the threshold, nor make any adjustments to the FPA. Also, Airbus said at the time that before the FAF press TRK/FPA pb, select desired FPA on the FPA dial and then at 0.3 before the FAF - pull. Air canadas practice was to pull v/s/FPA selecting 0 and then wind it to desired angle at FPA -0.3
• Unlike EASA and FAA, in canade the minimum vis for an approach isnt afected by the type of ALS installed. As a comparison, for the minima at halifax the FAA would require an additional 900m of approach lighting!!

You can read the report yourself by clicking on this link:

http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2015/a15h0002/a15h0002.asp

Matt & Andy carry on where they left off. Last week they talked about the 7 main factors affecting approach and landing accidents. As a reminder they covered,

• SOPs 
• Crew cooperation (CRM)

In this episode they discuss,

• Altimeter and altitude issues
• Descent and approach management 
• Approach hazard awareness
• Readiness to go around 
• Approach and landing techniques

75 % of approach-and-landing incidents and accidents come under 5 categories:

• CFIT (which includes landing short of runway); 

• Loss of control; 

• Runway overrun; 

• Runway excursion; and, 

• Non-stabilized approaches. 

They looked at the factors that often lead to these accidents. They broke them down into 7 different subjects,

SOPs 

Crew cooperation (CRM)

Altimeter and altitude issues

Descent and approach management 

Approach hazard awareness

Readiness to go around 

Approach and landing techniques

Listen to episodes 15 & 21 for a refresher on the CRM topics discussed in this episode.

The Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) generates aural and visual warnings, when one of the following conditions occurs between radio heights 30 ft and 2 450 ft

Mode 1: Excessive rate of descent

Mode 2: Excessive terrain closure rate

Mode 4: Unsafe terrain clearance when not in landing configuration

Mode 5: Too far below glideslope.

A Terrain Awareness Display (TAD), which predicts the terrain conflict, and displays the terrain on the ND.

A Terrain Clearance Floor (TCF), which improves the low terrain warning during landing.

On newer aircraft the GPWS occurs between radio heights 10 ft and 2 450 ft.

For more info see FCOM DSC-SURV-040