Operations Manual and Flight Crew Documentation

A pilot never flies from memory alone. Behind every procedure sits a documented source: the certification data approved with the type, the manufacturer's operating manuals, and the operator's own operations manual (OM), which turns all of it into company policy. Knowing which document says what, and which one prevails when they differ, is part of airmanship and a regular exam subject.

The documents form a hierarchy. The regulations bind the operator; the aircraft flight manual (AFM) sets the limits of the aircraft; the manufacturer's flight crew operating manual (FCOM), quick reference handbook and flight crew training manual (FCTM) explain how to operate within them; and the operations manual adds the operator's procedures, often more restrictive than the manufacturer's. Light aircraft condense much of this into one book, the pilot's operating handbook (POH).

Operations manual structure

ICAO Annex 6 requires every commercial operator to provide an operations manual for its operations personnel, and EASA sets out its content in Part-ORO (ORO.MLR). The European operations manual is divided into four parts:

Several rules shape the manual. The current EASA rule, ORO.MLR.100, requires that all personnel can understand the language in which the parts relevant to their duties are written; EU-OPS, still quoted in exam material, required English unless the authority approved otherwise. EU-OPS also required amendments that need approval to be approved before they take effect, and allowed the manual in a form other than printed paper provided the format is accessible, usable and reliable for the user. Today most crews carry it on an electronic flight bag, and the parts relevant to their duties are carried on board.

The operations manual can be more restrictive than the manufacturer but never less. The loading, mass and centre of gravity must stay within the AFM limits, or within the operations manual limits where these are more restrictive. The MEL is based on the manufacturer's master minimum equipment list but may not be less restrictive than it (see technical log, MEL and deferred defects). Company planning minima, stabilisation criteria and weather avoidance distances are all published there and govern on the line.

In the United States, 14 CFR 121.133 and 121.135 require each Part 121 certificate holder to prepare and keep current a manual, with prescribed content; 121.137 requires the appropriate parts to be carried on board and available to crew members; and 121.141 requires either the approved AFM or the operator's manual, where it contains the flight manual information clearly identified as such, to be carried in each aeroplane.

Flight operations manual

US airlines usually call the general part of their manual the flight operations manual (FOM). New-hire pilots meet it in their indoctrination course, before systems ground school, because it sets the company policies and procedures that apply whatever the aircraft; the same course covers the flight and duty rules of Part 117, security, hazardous materials and CRM. In European terms it corresponds broadly to Part A.

The operator's operations specifications sit alongside it: the authorisations, such as low-visibility approaches, ETOPS or the use of an electronic flight bag, that define what the manual's procedures may be used for (see air operator certification).

AFM and pilot's operating handbook

The Aircraft Flight Manual (AFM), called the Airplane Flight Manual by the FAA, is the document approved by the certifying authority with the type. For large aeroplanes its content is laid down in the certification specifications: the operating limitations, the operating procedures and the performance information. What the AFM says is binding. Under 14 CFR 91.9 no one may operate a civil aircraft without complying with the limitations in its approved flight manual, markings and placards, and the flight manual must be on board. The configuration deviation list (CDL) lists the secondary parts that may be missing at dispatch; missing panels found on the walk-round are checked against it for possible dispatch and any operational consequences. Optional equipment is covered by supplements to the manual.

Not everything in the manual is a limitation. The maximum demonstrated crosswind, 38 kt including gusts for the A320, is the strongest crosswind met during certification; it is not a limitation unless the manufacturer places it in the limitations section.

The pilot's operating handbook (POH) is the light-aircraft form of the flight manual. Most modern light aircraft follow GAMA Specification No. 1, the standard format of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, so every handbook presents the same information in the same place:

The POH incorporates the approved flight manual material, and Section 6 of the handbook for each individual aircraft holds its own empty mass and centre of gravity, which the pilot must use rather than the typical figures. GAMA-format handbooks also standardised definitions: basic empty weight, for example, includes unusable fuel, full engine oil and the optional equipment fitted. The performance charts are produced with new aeroplanes flown by test pilots and contain no built-in margin, so a pilot flying an older aeroplane should add one.

FCOM and FCTM

The Flight Crew Operating Manual (FCOM) is the manufacturer's operating manual for crews of transport aircraft. It describes the systems, sets out the limitations, the normal, abnormal and emergency procedures, and gives performance data in a form usable on the line. Boeing's limitations chapter separates AFM limitations from non-AFM operational information, and notes that where the AFM and the FCOM conflict on weight limitations, the AFM governs. The FCOM describes a basic configuration: Airbus warns that the location and type of emergency equipment may vary between customers, and that the placards on the aircraft are authoritative.

The quick reference handbook (QRH) holds what crews need quickly: memory items, procedures for events that the warning system cannot detect, such as smoke, evacuation or ditching, and performance tables such as landing distances with failures. It exists on paper and, increasingly, in electronic form. Airbus also issues operations engineering bulletins (OEBs), procedures for a known problem that can supersede an ECAM procedure or status message; crews review the OEBs applicable to their aircraft before flight, paying most attention to the red OEBs that must be applied before the ECAM procedure.

The Flight Crew Training Manual (FCTM) is the manufacturer's manual of technique. Where the FCOM says what to do, the FCTM explains how and why: handling techniques, the reasoning behind the procedures, and recommended practice in situations such as a runway change during taxi, when the PM updates the FMS while the PF taxies, and the PF stops or hands over control before cross-checking the new data. On the A320, the onboard library application gives access to the FCOM, MEL, AFM, CDL and FCTM together.

Each document has its place: the AFM prevails over the FCOM, the operator's procedures in its operations manual may be stricter than both, and the FCTM advises rather than prescribes.

Cabin crew operating manual

Cabin crew have their own documentation. Airbus publishes a Cabin Crew Operating Manual (CCOM) describing the cabin systems and the emergency equipment from the cabin crew's point of view; the FCOM refers to it for the description of portable emergency equipment, and its symbol list explains the placards that mark where equipment is stowed. Operators turn this material into their own cabin crew procedures and training, part of the operations manual.

Flight crew use it too: the emergency equipment on the flight deck and in the cabin, evacuation signals and cabin communication procedures are shared ground between the two crews, which is why joint training and briefings refer to the same documents.

Airport planning document (ACAP)

Aircraft Characteristics for Airport Planning (ACAP) is the manufacturer's document for airport designers, planners and operators rather than pilots; Boeing publishes the equivalent as Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning. It gives each variant's dimensions, ground clearances, turning radii and manoeuvring data. Pilots meet its figures in type rating courses and exams:

The ACAP values are theoretical minima. The FCOM gives larger widths for the turning technique it recommends, about 24 m for the A320 and 30 m for the A321 on a dry runway, and even those contain no margin, which the crew add on a wet or contaminated surface. The wheelbase explains the difference between variants: the longer the distance between nose and main gear, the wider the turn.

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.