A320 Memory Items

Most A320 failures are handled by reading. The ECAM displays the procedure, or the crew open the QRH, and the pilot monitoring reads and applies each line. A few situations cannot wait for that: a decompression, a terrain warning, a stall, brakes that do not respond after touchdown. Their procedures begin with memory items, actions the crew applies at once and without any document.

This article sets out the A320 FCOM memory items: their triggers, their actions in order and the reasons behind them. Procedures change with FCOM revisions. The general principles are in standard operating procedures and checklists.

What a memory item is and when it applies

On the A320, memory items and OEB immediate actions are applied immediately and by memory; everything else, from the ECAM, the QRH, the FCOM or an OEB, is read and done when appropriate. In an abnormal or emergency situation the order is: memory items or OEB immediate actions, then the OEB, then the ECAM, then the QRH (see A320 ECAM and warning system).

Task sharing changes: the pilot monitoring (PM) monitors the flight path and applies the procedure, while the pilot flying (PF) flies, navigates and, once the ECAM actions or QRH procedure have started, also communicates, because understanding and applying them takes most of the PM's attention. After takeoff or a go-around, read-and-do actions wait until at least 400 ft AGL unless the flight path is already safe. Memory items do not wait.

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Emergency descent

The emergency descent protects the crew first. Its three memory items are:

1. CREW OXY MASKS: USE.
2. SIGNS: ON.
3. EMER DESCENT: INITIATE.

The procedure continues. If the autothrust is not active, the thrust levers go to IDLE; the speedbrakes go to FULL; once the descent is established, the speed is MAX/APPROPRIATE, and if structural damage is suspected the crew maneuver with care and consider extending the landing gear. Then the engine mode selector goes to IGN, ATC is told of the emergency and the crew's intentions, by CPDLC if voice contact fails, the cabin hears the emergency descent announcement on the PA, and squawk 7700 is considered unless ATC has given a code. The masks are set to diluted oxygen (N): left at 100 %, the crew supply may not last the whole descent profile. The aircraft levels off at FL100, or at the MEA or MORA if higher, and if the cabin altitude exceeds 14,000 ft the crew press OXYGEN PAX MASK MAN ON, which confirms that the passenger masks are released.

The pilots make sure they can talk through the masks but avoid continuous use of the interphone, which carries the breathing noise. The cabin crew are told when the aircraft reaches a safe level and when cabin oxygen is no longer needed (see A320 oxygen system and decompression).

Unreliable speed indication

The unreliable speed indication memory items apply "if the safe conduct of the flight is impacted":

1. AP OFF, A/THR OFF, FD OFF.
2. Pitch and thrust, as in the table below.
3. FLAPS: keep the current configuration; in CONF FULL, select CONF 3.
4. SPEEDBRAKES: check retracted.
5. L/G: UP.

These settings give a safe flight path without relying on the speed indications. At or above the minimum safe or circuit altitude the crew level off for troubleshooting and use the QRH pitch and thrust tables: holding altitude, if the pitch is above the target they add thrust, if below they reduce it. The stall warning is always respected.

The faulty air data are then sought, starting with probe and window heat ON. ADR 3 and the standby instruments use the same probe, so their agreement proves little. If one ADR is confirmed reliable it is used and the unreliable ones are switched off. If the faulty ones cannot be found, above FL250 one ADR stays on and two go off, so that the flight control laws cannot use two coherent but wrong sources. Below FL250, if the speed is still unreliable, all three go off and, where fitted, the backup speed scale and GPS altitude replace the normal indications; the crew fly its green band, or the pitch and thrust tables if it does not respond to stick inputs (see A320 ADIRS and standby instruments). On Air France 447, the BEA found that the crew did not link the loss of speeds to the appropriate procedure.

EGPWS warnings and cautions

An EGPWS warning, "PULL UP", "TERRAIN AHEAD, PULL UP" or "OBSTACLE AHEAD, PULL UP", calls for an immediate pull-up, all actions at the same time:

• AP: OFF.
• PITCH: PULL UP, to full back stick, held there.
• THRUST LEVERS: TOGA.
• SPEED BRAKES lever: check retracted.
• BANK: wings level or adjust. The best climb comes with the wings level; bank may be adjusted while climbing if turning is the safest action.

Slats, flaps and gear stay as they are until clear of the obstacle. In normal law full back stick does not stall the aircraft: it gives alpha max, close to but below the stall, and no more (see A320 flight control laws and protections).

The EGPWS caution memory items depend on the alert and the conditions:

When conditions require a deliberate approach below the glideslope, the G/S MODE pushbutton is set OFF. The operator may define its own procedure for some airports (see GPWS and TAWS).

Windshear

The reactive windshear warning is a WINDSHEAR message on both PFDs with the aural alert "WINDSHEAR" three times. The flight augmentation computers detect it from 3 seconds after liftoff up to 1,300 ft RA on takeoff, and from 1,300 ft down to 50 ft RA on approach, with at least CONF 1. The memory items depend on the phase:

• Takeoff, before V1: if airspeed and airspeed trend vary significantly below the indicated V1, reject the takeoff, making sure enough runway remains to stop. Windshear can make V1 come later, or sooner, than expected.
• Takeoff, after V1: THR LEVERS: TOGA; reaching VR: ROTATE; SRS ORDERS: FOLLOW.
• Airborne, initial climb or landing: THR LEVERS AT TOGA: SET OR CONFIRM; AP (if engaged): KEEP ON; SRS ORDERS: FOLLOW.

Full back stick may be used if necessary. Without flight director bars, the pilot flies toward an initial 17.5° of pitch, then more if needed to stop a height loss; SRS itself allows up to 22.5° in windshear, against 18° normally. The autopilot disconnects if the angle of attack exceeds alpha prot. Configuration is not changed until out of the shear, flight path and speed are closely monitored, and the aircraft returns smoothly to a normal climb (see windshear and microbursts).

Predictive windshear

The predictive windshear function of the weather radar looks for shear before the aircraft reaches it. It scans 5 NM ahead below 2,300 ft AGL, with its switch at AUTO, an engine running and the transponder on. An advisory is only an icon on the ND; a caution adds an amber W/S AHEAD and "MONITOR RADAR DISPLAY"; a warning shows a red W/S AHEAD with "WINDSHEAR AHEAD" on takeoff or "GO AROUND, WINDSHEAR AHEAD" on approach. Alerts are inhibited from 100 kt to 50 ft on takeoff and below 50 ft on landing. The predictive aural alerts have priority over TCAS, GPWS and other FWC aural warnings, but a reactive windshear warning or a stall warning silences them. The crew actions for each predictive alert are summarized in the A320 memory items guide.

TCAS resolution advisories

No maneuver is made on a traffic advisory (TA) alone. A resolution advisory (RA) is always followed, even if it means crossing the intruder's altitude, because its orders give the best altitude separation and the intruder may be maneuvering on a coordinated RA of its own. For every RA except a climb RA on approach in CONF 3 or FULL:

• AP (if engaged): OFF; both FDs: OFF.
• Respond promptly and smoothly, adjusting or maintaining the vertical speed to reach the green area and avoid the red area of the vertical speed scale, without excessive maneuvers.
• Respect stall, GPWS and windshear warnings.
• Notify ATC.

Any climb RA on approach in CONF 3 or FULL is flown as a go-around following SRS GA, the crew checking that the vertical speed stays out of the red and taking over if necessary. At "CLEAR OF CONFLICT" the crew notify ATC, return to the clearance and re-engage the AP and FDs as required. Below 1,000 ft AGL, or with a windshear, stall or GPWS alert, the TCAS falls back to TA ONLY by itself (see ACAS and TCAS). At Überlingen in 2002, a Tu-154M crew descended on an ATC instruction against a TCAS climb advisory and collided with a Boeing 757; all 71 people on board the two aircraft died.

Stall recovery and stall warning at liftoff

In normal law the protections prevent a stall; in the degraded laws the aircraft can stall. Any stall indication, the aural warning, the red STALL STALL message on the PFD or buffet, triggers the stall recovery:

1. NOSE DOWN PITCH CONTROL: APPLY, to reduce the angle of attack. If nose-down authority is lacking, reducing thrust may be necessary.
2. BANK: WINGS LEVEL.
3. Once out of the stall, with no stall indications left: THRUST: INCREASE SMOOTHLY AS NEEDED, compensating any engine-out asymmetry progressively with rudder; SPEEDBRAKES: CHECK RETRACTED; FLIGHT PATH: RECOVER SMOOTHLY, establishing a positive climb gradient if there is a risk of ground contact.
4. If clean and below 20,000 ft: FLAP 1: SELECT.

Thrust waits until the wing is flying again: only a lower angle of attack unstalls it, and with the engines under the wing, added thrust also pitches the nose up. The crew should not wait for a warning: on Air France 447, an A330 in alternate law, the stall warning stopped whenever all three measured airspeeds fell below 60 kt (see stall).

The stall warning at liftoff is a separate memory item with three simultaneous actions: THRUST: TOGA; PITCH ATTITUDE: 15°; BANK: WINGS LEVEL. Unlike the stall recovery, it does not start with a nose-down input.

Loss of braking and alternate braking

If there is no braking after touchdown:

1. REV: MAX. Maximum reverse may be kept until the aircraft stops, although in normal operation it should not be used below 70 kt.
2. BRAKE PEDALS: RELEASE.
3. A/SKID: OFF. The PF orders it and the PM sets the A/SKID & N/W STRG switch OFF.
4. BRAKE PEDALS: PRESS.
5. MAX BRK PR: 1,000 psi.
6. If there is still no braking: PARK BRAKE, in short successive applications.

Setting the switch OFF transfers braking from the BSCU to the ABCU and activates alternate braking, on the yellow hydraulic system backed by an accumulator that can supply at least seven full brake applications. The pedals are released first because the change could otherwise apply the brakes violently, and initial pedal movement already gives more braking in alternate mode than in normal mode. Without anti-skid, the ABCU limits the pressure to 1,000 psi to avoid wheel locking and limit the risk of a tire burst; nosewheel steering is lost, differential braking remains, and the brake pressure appears on the BRAKES and ACCU PRESS indicator (see A320 landing gear, brakes and steering).

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.