HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Today we took a short break from snag clearance to go watch our CEO's annual Halloween skit. Doug Parker, in cahoots with some of our other company officials, dress up and put on a show for the troops.
This year it was the presidential politicos, and the bands AC/DC and Heart. Have a look....
Day 58 - October 27th
Today we started SNAG clearance. This is when we go through all the complaints written against the sim and verify the fixes. Things are going well so far and there are very few resolutions offered that we haven't accepted.
SNAG clearance will continue through the end of this week and then the following week the FAA will arrive to certify the sim for training. Tensions are high that the certification process will go well since it'll cost everyone a lot of money if it doesn't. US Airways already has a training schedule planned and having to reschedule would cause an expensive backup.
SNAG clearance will continue through the end of this week and then the following week the FAA will arrive to certify the sim for training. Tensions are high that the certification process will go well since it'll cost everyone a lot of money if it doesn't. US Airways already has a training schedule planned and having to reschedule would cause an expensive backup.
Day 50 - October 21st
Yesterday we started the visual acceptance. We reposition the simulator to each of the 15 custom airport models we purchased and verify that everything is modeled correctly and meets our training requirements. We taxi the aircraft all around the airport model, fly in and out and check out the operations under low visibility conditions. It is very tedious, but has to be done to make sure we don't have distractions in the visual scene and that there aren't any issues that would cause 'negative' training.
Visual acceptance will continue through the end of this week, then we'll start doing what's called 'snag clearance.' Snags are complaints that we have written against the simulator either during the testing we did in Montreal, or here in Phoenix. CAE addresses each snag and makes a fix or takes some other action then resubmits the issue for us to test again.
Visual acceptance will continue through the end of this week, then we'll start doing what's called 'snag clearance.' Snags are complaints that we have written against the simulator either during the testing we did in Montreal, or here in Phoenix. CAE addresses each snag and makes a fix or takes some other action then resubmits the issue for us to test again.
Day 45 - October 16th
Still testing.... The CAE test pilot had to return to Montreal so the Test Engineer took over his spot in the cockpit.
US Airways Sim Engineer, Dennis, CAE Test Engineer Anne-Elisabeth and US Airways Pilot, Al.Day 44 - October 15th
Testing has continued over the past few days. Some times, like this morning, are just beyond boring. We were testing the temperature controls for the simulated cabin and cargo heat functions. As you might imagine it can take quite a bit of time to heat or cool such large areas. In the mean time we're just sitting in the simulator staring at the instruments and trying not to fall asleep. 'Bout as much fun as watching paint dry...
Louardi, Al and Dennis enjoying the waitDay 40 - October 11th
As testing continues little things continue to get done around the sim. The Brief/Debrief Station was installed in one of the briefing rooms behind the sim. It incorporates a camera mounted on the flight deck that records video of the training session, a recording computer that is connected to the host to record the video and gather simulator data and a playback station in the briefing room. The instructors can play back the video as well as see the position and settings of every switch and instrument in the cockpit. They'll be able to tell exactly what went on and when! Should be a good training tool.
Camera mounted to ceiling of flight deck
Playback Station in pilot breifing roomDay 39 - October 10th
Sorry for missing out on a few days of blogging. We've just been doing testing about 14 hours per day and I'm completely ready to go home by the time I'm done with my part of the shift. Nothing very exciting has been happening the past few days, but Stephane did finish adjusting and assembling the stand underneath the sim as well as getting the raceways installed to protect the rest of the cabling on the floor.
Completed work stand and cable racewaysDay 36 - October 7th
This morning we continued testing of the OTM and then in the afternoon CAE tuned the motion buffet functions. We thought it was a little to high in certain conditions and a little too low in others. Since the buffeting effect is mostly subjective, CAE made adjustments while our guys sat in the cockpit to feel and evaluate the buffeting effect.
Flying above the cloud tops
We couldn't get the simulator UL approved until we found a way to keep the motion cables under the sim from being walked on. We decided to install an unused maintenance platform from another simulator over the cables, then we could use just a small amount of raceway to protect the portions of the cables not under the work platform. Since this sim is 2 feet higher than any of our other sims the platform will be handy to reach the maintenance doors on the bottom of the motion base.
Flying above the cloud tops
Test-fitting the maintenance platformDay 35 - October 6th
Testing by US Airways started today. We began with a subjective flyout that is done by one of our pilots who is very familiar with the A320 - in this case it was Al Hancock. The flyout is a sort of "look-see" where we just go through a normal flight and see if we notice anything that might be incorrect or need to be changed. We also use this time to check some particular things that are important to training or peculiar to US Airways.
After lunch one of our Lead Engineers, John Sutherland, continued with Al to start the Operational Test Manual (OTM). The OTM is a set of operational scenarios designed to test how well the aircraft systems are simulated from the viewpoint of the pilots. In the CAE-developed OTM there are 11 different scenarios created to check all phases of flight and hopefully, most of the common procedures needed by the crews, including some malfunctions.
After lunch one of our Lead Engineers, John Sutherland, continued with Al to start the Operational Test Manual (OTM). The OTM is a set of operational scenarios designed to test how well the aircraft systems are simulated from the viewpoint of the pilots. In the CAE-developed OTM there are 11 different scenarios created to check all phases of flight and hopefully, most of the common procedures needed by the crews, including some malfunctions.
Pilot Jon Witten from our Flight Standards department checking the instrumentsDay 33 - October 4th
CAE finally received the special sound-dampening carpet pad and today they installed the carpet on the flight deck. They'll have to rerun the QTG for the sound system and tune it for the new acoustics now that there's quite a bit less echo on the flight deck.
Something else that is new is that there is a dimmer on the lights for the back of the flight deck area where the instructor sits. I think this will be a nice feature. Also, the lights are mounted in the ceiling behind some louvers that seem to direct the light downward and should help reduce reflections and glare in visual and off the instruments.
Something else that is new is that there is a dimmer on the lights for the back of the flight deck area where the instructor sits. I think this will be a nice feature. Also, the lights are mounted in the ceiling behind some louvers that seem to direct the light downward and should help reduce reflections and glare in visual and off the instruments.
Carpet with sound-dampening pad is installedDay 32 - October 3rd
CAE continued working on integration and ironing out some issues here and there. Also, I believe their test pilot continued some of the Manual QTG and subjective testing.
Day 31 - October 2nd
After about a week and a half of 12-hour days working on it, I finally got through the first pass of the Qualification Test Guide (QTG). I had reservations on about 20% of the tests, so now comes the arduous task of reviewing CAE's corrections and/or explanations and re-reviewing those tests. I think I'm starting to go blind! LOL!
Day 30 - October 1st
CAE is providing an auto-alignment tool for the visual system that will help reduce the labor required to maintain the visual picture quality. It involves a camera that the software uses to view the visual display and the test patterns, a light meter that senses the gamma (so brightness and color temperature can be automatically adjusted) and the software itself.
This system has been in development at CAE for a while and I believe we will be the first to have it. We're hoping everything goes well and the tool works as it purported to.
In the pic below you can seen Henry Ng working on the camera. He's epoxying the lens for the light sensor onto the bottom of the camera. The lens directs light into a fiber-optic cable, which transports it to a box that breaks it down and communicates the information to the computer for analysis. This entire assembly hangs inside the top of the visual dome behind the back-projection screen.
This system has been in development at CAE for a while and I believe we will be the first to have it. We're hoping everything goes well and the tool works as it purported to.
In the pic below you can seen Henry Ng working on the camera. He's epoxying the lens for the light sensor onto the bottom of the camera. The lens directs light into a fiber-optic cable, which transports it to a box that breaks it down and communicates the information to the computer for analysis. This entire assembly hangs inside the top of the visual dome behind the back-projection screen.
Henry working on the Auto-Alignment cameraDay 29 - September 30th
I went through the remaining visual hardware ATM (Acceptance Test Manual) with Henry this morning. I was able to get some hands-on time with the alignment software tool that is used for setting up the visual geometry. I must say it's far easier to use than what I'm used to. It was very intuitive and took me a very short time to become comfortable with it. I would guess that between Henry and I we managed to get a good manual alignment done in about 45 minutes, including my learning curve. Hopefully when the auto-alignment tool is ready it'll cut that time down even further.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
