The first lesson of this module worked at the operator's desk and the second worked in the cabin; this one rides the jump seat. Its rules share a single grammatical subject: the commander shall. They follow the flight in order: keeping the crew at their stations, deciding whether the weather allows departure, judging ice, guarding the fuel, managing oxygen, deciding whether an approach may continue, and filing the reports the flight leaves behind.
The commander, doors to shutdown
Two clocks define the job. The commander is responsible for the safety of all crew members, passengers and cargo from arriving on board until leaving the aircraft at the end of the flight. Responsibility for the operation and safety of the aeroplane runs on a tighter clock: from the moment it is first ready to move for the purpose of taxiing before take-off, until it finally comes to rest and the engines used as primary propulsion are shut down. For a helicopter the equivalent is simpler: whenever the rotors are turning. The flight-preparation duties on the commander's list were covered in the first lesson of this module; here the list continues into the air.
Backing all of it stands the emergency power: in a situation requiring immediate decision and action, the commander, or the pilot to whom conduct of the flight has been delegated, takes any action considered necessary and may deviate from rules, operational procedures and methods in the interest of safety. Every duty in this lesson reads against that reserve clause.
Crew at their stations
During take-off and landing, each flight crew member required to be on duty in the flight crew compartment is at the assigned station. During all other phases they remain there unless absence is necessary for duties connected with the operation or for physiological needs, and even then at least one suitably qualified pilot remains at the controls at all times. Alertness is its own rule: each flight crew member remains alert, and if a lack of alertness is encountered, countermeasures are used.
For unexpected fatigue the rules allow controlled rest, organised by the commander, if workload permits. The guidance material fills in the working shape it should take. It belongs to the minimum certified crew and is not the planned in-flight rest of an augmented crew. Only one flight crew member rests at a time, at the station, restraint fastened and seat positioned clear of the controls. The rest should last no more than 45 minutes, limiting actual sleep to about 30, and is followed by a 20-minute recovery for sleep inertia during which the rested pilot is entrusted with no control, closed out by a briefing. Between two rest periods should lie at least 20 minutes, and any rest should end at least 30 minutes before top of descent. In a two-pilot crew the senior cabin crew member is told who is resting and when it ends, and the cabin crew check that the resting pilot is awake. Controlled rest never counts as rest for flight time limitations and never justifies extending a duty period.
Cabin crew have the mirror rule: during critical phases of flight each cabin crew member sits at the assigned station and performs no activities other than those required for the safe operation of the aircraft. When the operator assigns those stations, the acceptable means of compliance rank three properties in order of priority: close to a floor-level door or exit, a good view of the cabin area the crew member is responsible for, and even distribution throughout the cabin. Spare stations do not oblige the operator to carry extra crew.
Smoking on board
One list belongs entirely to the commander, who shall not allow smoking on board:
In the interest of safety — whenever the commander considers it necessary.
During refuelling and defuelling of the aircraft; the previous lesson's no-smoking signs during passenger refuelling are this rule at work.
On the surface, unless the operator has determined procedures to mitigate the risks during ground operations.
Outside designated smoking areas, including in the aisles and lavatories.
In cargo compartments and cargo areas where cargo is not stored in flame-resistant containers or covered by flame-resistant canvas.
Where oxygen is being supplied in the passenger compartment.
Weather to go, weather to take off
The weather decisions split cleanly by the minima they use, and the split is the exam's favourite trap. At the planning end, on IFR flights the commander only commences the flight, or continues beyond the point from which a revised ATS flight plan applies during in-flight re-planning, when information indicates that the expected weather at the destination and/or the required alternates at the time of arrival is at or above the planning minima that the first lesson of this module tabulated. Once airborne and heading in, the test changes: the commander only continues towards the planned destination when the latest information indicates that conditions at the destination, or at least one destination alternate, will at the expected arrival time be at or above the aerodrome operating minima. Planning minima to set off, operating minima to press on, and for the continuation test the destination or one alternate suffices.
Aeroplanes add two special gates from the fuel procedures the Flight Planning course built: the commander only continues beyond the decision point of a reduced-contingency-fuel (RCF) flight, or beyond the point of no return (PNR) on an isolated-aerodrome flight, when the expected weather at the destination and/or required alternates at arrival time is at or above the applicable aerodrome operating minima. On VFR flights the rule is one line: commence only when reports and forecasts indicate the VFR part of the route will be at or above the VFR limits at the appropriate time.
Before take-off itself, the commander must be satisfied of two things: that the weather at the aerodrome and the condition of the intended runway, or FATO, will not prevent a safe take-off and departure, and that the selected aerodrome operating minima are consistent with four items:
the operative ground equipment;
the operative aircraft systems;
the aircraft performance; and
the flight crew qualifications.
The acceptable means of compliance sharpen the take-off decision twice. Take-off should not be commenced unless the weather at the departure aerodrome is equal to or better than the applicable minima for landing there, unless a weather-permissible take-off alternate is available. And if the reported visibility is below the take-off minimum and no RVR is reported, take-off should only commence if the commander can determine that the visibility along the take-off runway is equal to or better than the required minimum.
Ice and the clean aircraft
On the ground the division of labour is familiar: the operator establishes the procedures for de-icing, anti-icing and the related inspections, and the commander applies the gate. Take-off is only commenced if the aircraft is clear of any deposit that might adversely affect its performance or controllability, except as the operator's procedures and the AFM permit. This is the clean-aircraft concept, and the commander's share of it continues after the trucks leave: the environmental situation is monitored after treatment, a pre-take-off check of the wings or representative surfaces is made within the holdover time, the period during which the anti-icing fluid keeps protecting the treated surfaces, and once that time is exceeded, or any doubt exists about the treatment's effectiveness, a pre-take-off contamination check is made, normally from outside just before the take-off run. The fluid types, holdover tables and anti-icing codes behind those checks belong to a later module on contamination; the commander's gate is what matters here.
In the air the rule has a front door and an escape hatch. The commander only commences a flight, or intentionally flies, into expected or actual icing conditions if the aircraft is certified and equipped to cope with them. If icing exceeds the intensity the aircraft is certified for, or if an aircraft not certified for known icing meets icing at all, the commander exits the conditions without delay, by a change of level and/or route, declaring an emergency to ATC if necessary.
Fuel in the commander's hands
The Flight Planning course computed the fuel plan and ran the in-flight checks against it; this subject owns the commander's duties wrapped around those numbers. The first is the departure gate: the commander only commences a flight, or continues after in-flight re-planning, when satisfied that the aircraft carries at least the planned amount of usable fuel, energy and oil to complete the flight safely under the expected operating conditions. Airborne, the operator's in-flight fuel management procedures keep validating the planning assumptions, adjusting the plan where needed, recording the data, and above all protecting the fuel: what remains on board must never fall below what is needed to reach an aerodrome where a safe landing can be made. When unforeseen circumstances threaten a landing below final reserve plus any required alternate or isolated-aerodrome fuel, the commander obtains delay information from a reliable source and re-plans on it.
Two radio calls then grade the shrinking margin, and the exam wants their triggers exact. The commander declares MINIMUM FUEL when committed to land at a specific aerodrome and any change to the existing clearance to that aerodrome may result in landing with less than the planned final reserve fuel. It is not an emergency; it tells ATC that all aerodrome options have collapsed to one and that an emergency is possible if more delay is added, and it buys no priority handling, only awareness that follows the flight from unit to unit. The emergency call is the other one: the commander broadcasts MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL when the usable fuel calculated to be available on landing at the nearest aerodrome where a safe landing can be made is less than the planned final reserve fuel. Committed-and-threatened is a declaration; below-reserve-at-the-nearest-option is a mayday.
Oxygen in thin air
The use rule sits with the commander, who ensures that flight crew members performing duties essential to the safe operation of the aircraft use supplemental oxygen continuously whenever the cabin altitude exceeds 10,000 ft for more than 30 minutes, and whenever it exceeds 13,000 ft. The carriage rules say what the aircraft must have on board for everyone else, and they split by pressurisation.
A pressurised aeroplane operated above 10,000 ft carries supplemental oxygen equipment holding supplies laddered by seat and altitude:
Flight crew compartment occupants on duty — the entire flying time above a cabin altitude of 13,000 ft, and the time beyond the first 30 minutes between 10,000 and 13,000 ft; never less than a 30-minute supply for aeroplanes certified to 25,000 ft, and never less than 2 hours for aeroplanes certified higher.
Required cabin crew members — the entire flying time above 13,000 ft, never less than a 30-minute supply, plus the time beyond the first 30 minutes between 10,000 and 13,000 ft.
100 per cent of passengers — the entire flying time above 15,000 ft, and never less than a 10-minute supply.
30 per cent of passengers — the entire flying time between 14,000 and 15,000 ft.
10 per cent of passengers — the time beyond the first 30 minutes between 10,000 and 14,000 ft.
Passenger counts mean passengers actually carried, including those younger than 24 months. Extra crew beyond the required minimum count as passengers for oxygen, as does anyone in the flight crew compartment not plumbed into the flight crew source. Above 25,000 ft the equipment list grows: quick-donning masks for the flight crew, spare outlets and masks or portable sets spread through the cabin for the cabin crew, a dispensing unit immediately available to every occupant wherever seated, with units and outlets exceeding the number of seats by at least 10 per cent evenly distributed, and a device warning the flight crew of any loss of pressurisation. For aeroplanes with an individual certificate of airworthiness issued after 8 November 1998, the passenger units must deploy automatically when operating above 25,000 ft, or lower than that when the aeroplane cannot descend safely to 13,000 ft within 4 minutes.
A non-pressurised aeroplane above 10,000 ft carries a simpler ladder: flight crew on duty, and crew members assisting them, breathe oxygen for the entire flying time above 10,000 ft; required cabin crew for the entire time above 13,000 ft and for any period beyond 30 minutes between 10,000 and 13,000 ft; additional crew members and 100 per cent of passengers for the entire time above 13,000 ft; and 10 per cent of passengers for the time beyond the first 30 minutes between 10,000 and 13,000 ft.
Approach and the thousand-foot gate
The approach decisions mirror the take-off ones. Before commencing an approach the commander must be satisfied that the weather and the condition of the intended runway or FATO will not prevent a safe approach, landing or go-around, considering the performance information in the operations manual, and that the selected minima are consistent with the same four items the take-off rule listed: ground equipment, aircraft systems, aircraft performance and crew qualifications. The performance half has its own in-flight ritual: a landing distance assessment at the time of arrival, based on the latest weather and runway condition report, made around top of descent and monitored through the approach. The pass mark is fixed: no approach is continued unless the landing distance available on the intended runway is at least 115 per cent of the landing distance at the estimated time of landing. Where no landing-distance-at-time-of-arrival performance information exists for the type, the required landing distance of the performance rules applies instead.
Then comes this lesson's headline, the approach ban. For aeroplanes, if the reported visibility or the controlling RVR for the landing runway is below the applicable minimum, an instrument approach is not continued past the point where the aeroplane is 1,000 ft above the aerodrome elevation, or into the final approach segment where the DH or MDH, short for the decision height or minimum descent height, is higher than 1,000 ft. Everything around that gate is fair: commencing an approach is never prohibited by the reports, and a deterioration reported once the aircraft is past the gate imposes no requirement to discontinue; the flight simply flies to minimums, where the ordinary rules take over. If the required visual reference is not established, a missed approach is executed at or before the DA/H or MDA/H; if it is lost after that point, a go-around is executed promptly.