Dear friends and followers, welcome back to my channel
and lovely greetings from the Airbus A320 simulator
at the TFC Flight Training Centre here in Essen, Germany.
This is another Airbus introduction video
and I'll be giving you a basic explanation of the A320 fire protection system.
So let's get started!
The aircraft fire protection system consists of a fire and overheat detection
and extinguishing system for both engines and the APU.
Besides that, there is a smoke detection and extinguishing system
in the cargo compartments and the lavatories.
Plus, a smoke detector in the avionic bay
and portable fire extinguishers for the cockpit and the cabin crew.
So let's take a closer look at the fire extinguisher
and detection system in the engines and APU.
Now each engine has two extinguisher bottles,
which electrically operate squibs to discharge their contents
and so does the APU, except that with only one,
has one extinguisher bottle.
And the pilots control and discharge both systems
with the engine and APU fire panel on the overhead panel.
So both systems have a fire and overheat detection system
consisting of two identical fire detection loops, A and B,
mounted in parallel and a fire detection unit, a FDU.
The loops consists of three to four sensing elements for each engine.
One in the pylon nacelle,
one in the engine core,
and one in the fan section.
And one independent sensing unit in the APU compartment.
So when is the fire warning triggered?
When any sensor on the loop is subject to heat,
it sends a signal to the fire detection unit
and then triggers the warning. [aural fire warning sounds]
Or as soon as loop A and B
detect a temperature at a preset level, the warning system is triggered.
If both loops should break within five seconds,
the system expects that both loops got damaged by flames
and also triggers the warning system.
In case of one faulty loop,
the other operative one takes over and still protects the aircraft.
Other than that,
if the system detects an APU fire while the aircraft is on the ground,
it shuts down the APU automatically and discharges the extinguishing agent.
Okay, let's take close look at the fire switches
on the upper level of the overhead panel.
The push button's normal position is IN and guarded by this red frame.
[aural fire warning sounds] Once a fire warning is triggered,
the pilot opens the guard and pushes the button.
And as it pops out, it sends a electrical signal
that performs the following for the corresponding engine.
First of all, it silenced the aural fire warning,
arms the fire extinguisher squibs,
closes the low pressure fuel valve,
closes the hydraulic fire shutoff valve,
closes the engine bleed valve,
closes the pack flow control valve,
cuts off the FADEC power supply and deactivates the IDG,
the integrated drive unit driving the generator.
Next to fire push button are the two agent push buttons.
So both buttons become active when the flight crew
presses the engine fire push button for the affected engine
and a squib light comes up in white,
helping the flight computer identify which agent is now ready to be discharged.
A brief push on the button discharges the corresponding fire extinguisher
and DISCH lights up amber when the fire extinguisher bottle
is entirely empty, measured by its bottled pressure.
And then you have the TEST push button.
This button permits the flight crew
to test the operation of the fire detection
and extinguishing system before each flight of the day.
When the flight crew presses it,
a continuous repetitive chime sounds,
the master warning lights starts flashing,
the engine fire warning appears on the lower ECAM,
and now on the engine panel of the pedestal,
the fire lights come on red.
To perform this test correctly you check that all necessary lights come on,
the procedure is shown on the ECAM, and that you cancel the aural warning
by pressing the master warning push button.
And the same procedure applies as you press the APU fire TEST button.
Now in case of an APU fire,
the pilot opens the guard and presses the APU push button.
And by the way, that's not the only way
you can shut off the APU in case of a fire on ground.
There's an external APU panel below the cockpit
near the ground power supply connector.
In case of a fire, a warning sound can be heard
and the ground personnel can discharge
the extinguisher bottle from below by pressing this button.
So that was it for today.
I hope you enjoyed this basic introduction video
on the Airbus fire protection system
and make sure to watch the upcoming videos on Airbus A320 System Knowledge.
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Big thank you for the support by TFC,
providing me with this great flight simulator.
Make sure to check out their website
for more details about their flight school, programs and training.
And see you next week. All the best, your Captain Joe.