
How to start up a Boeing 737 [video] - shawndumas
http://www.loopinsight.com/2013/09/21/how-to-start-up-a-boeing-737/
======
ballooney
As someone who has designed avionics for experimental aircraft and rockets,
one of the satisfying highlights, like the salty sticky bits as you mop up the
plate of a roast, is designing and building the switch panels.

Just as web-UI design can be an all-consuming obsession to get it 'just-so',
you can loose yourself in comparisons between rotary switches - finding one
with just the right torque and a satisfying positive click, locking toggle
switches, the colour of the panels and the colour of the filled engravings to
get the readability good in both direct sunlight and dim red-lit cabins, the
pride you take in wiring looms that no other humans will likely ever see. It's
of course not all fun and games, people's lives will depend on the quality of
that wiring loom, and the spark from an unsealed toggle switch in the oxygen-
rich cabin is what caused the Apollo 1 fire (
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1)
).

So videos like this are quite a source of design inspiration!

Relatedly: if you wonder what goes into making nice panels and wiring looms,
have a flick through this: [http://www.rbracing-
rsr.com/wiring_ecu.html](http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/wiring_ecu.html) it's
motorsport but it's basically the same story for aircraft.

~~~
beachstartup
surely the people who maintain, build, and upgrade the aircraft will see your
wiring...?

------
yurisagalov
There was a good thread on the /r/flying subreddit discussing this procedure
yesterday. Specifically, poster /u/veritasiness outlined the entire procedure
step by step [1] which I'll cut and paste here:

    
    
      0:02 ground power turned on. The plane is basically "plugged in" to an outlet. This 
           turns on the electric systems from that power source.
      0:03 cabin / utilities on
      0:05 voice recorder check
      0:06 turning on (aligning) IRS
      0:10 Fire checks (Bell, loop, fault)
      0:12 Extinguisher checks (3 bottles)
      0:13 Cargo extinguisher checks
      0:15 Oxygen mask check (demand only / emergency)
      0:20 Audio Selector Panel setup. Buttons on the top are the options for transmitting. 
           Knobs on second row are options for listening.
      0:30 FMS setup (also part of aligning IRS Navs)
      0:34 Manual route entry. Left side are the airways (roads) and right side are the 
           fixes (intersections)
      0:40 Arrival Setup. Left side are the STandard ARivals. (STARS) Right side are the 
           actual runways approaches.
      0:44 Fuel pumps on.
      0:45 engine driven and electric hydraulic pumps on. Note: several operators leave 
           the A side off for push back because nose wheel steering is commanded by 
           A-Side hydraulics. There is also a bypass on the gear as an alternative to 
           shutting off the A-Side.
      0:48 overspeed warning test. (clacker is what goes off if you overspeed the plane 
           and is an indication of a good check)
      0:50 window heat on (1 for each window)
      0:52 AC setup
      0:54 setting cruise altitude on the pressurization panel
      0:55 setting landing altitude
      0:58 Flight director on. ("MA" is master. It's the copilot's leg to fly)
      1:01 Autobrake to RTO (Rejected Take Off)
      1:06 cockpit light check
      1:10 transponder to 2 (It's the copilot's leg)
      1:19 GPWS check
      1:30 Hyd pumps off (see above)
      1:31 AC packs off
      1:33 beacon on
      1:35 pilot cooling fan #2
      1:58 ignition switches to ground (starts the engine turning)
      2:02 fuel switch on (introduces fuel to the engine). Also how you shut the engine 
           down.
      2:06 N2 rotation - speed at which the engine is turning. Fuel is typically 
           introduced at 25% N2. Too early / slow and you might get a hung start. 
           Or a hot start.
    

[1]
[http://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1mrw7g/how_to_start_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1mrw7g/how_to_start_up_a_boeing_737_fascinating/ccc6cjf)

------
United857
Private pilot here (who's also ridden in some full-scale airliner flight
sims). A lot of the procedures in the video are going through checklists to
test the various instruments and systems, both normal and emergency ones, as
well as entering the route in the flight computer (used by the autopilot).
This is what real pilots on real flights have to do.

If you just want to start the engines, taxi, and take off for a joyride
(completely violating company/FAA policy), the steps are quite a bit less
although still involved, depending on how old the aircraft is and the level of
automation it has. This video seems to show a 737-800 or later, which is
pretty new and most likely has a system that with one or two buttons handles
the bleed air/ignition/fuel sequence of starting a turbine.

~~~
bjz_
How long do the checklists normally take for airliners? I was actually
surprised how short this was.

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
It would take a long time, the first few times you did it. Do it a few times
per day with a second pilot reading and checking the items to you.

~~~
dhughes
Not to mention the walk around.

------
sbierwagen
Here's a 10:55 video going through the process of starting up a A-10 in the
DCS A-10 simulator, with the guy actually explaining what each step does
unlike OP.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xWYLlhFwg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xWYLlhFwg)

~~~
coin
I wish there was a global YouTube switch to filter out all flightsim videos. I
don't know how many times I've search for xxx landing at yyy only to find some
PC flightsim with annoying music in the background.

~~~
iso-8859-1
You can't have that, categorization is way too complicated for YouTube.
YouTube is for everyone, not just nerds!

------
Splendor
Direct youtube link:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae20L78imO4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae20L78imO4)

------
kintamanimatt
This video is like explaining how to write software by pointing a video camera
at a programmer's keyboard.

~~~
ktr100
No doubt... Crazy complicated. Still a great video.

~~~
dhughes
I'm still wondering how the camera which seems to be held in his hand and then
it shows him using two hands to do one check, and it looks like it's in front
of his face not held by someone else off to the side; Google Glass?

edit: I'm seeing things it was just one hand.

------
chatman
This seems like a good video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZofY286FyQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZofY286FyQ)

~~~
coin
Warning, flightsim video

------
downandout
Well.....what could possibly go wrong there? There have been several air
disasters over the years that resulted from a failure to flip the right switch
or check certain settings, either in-flight or pre-flight. A Greek crash where
the pilot forgot to flip the auto-pressurization switch, killing most on board
before the crash itself, comes to mind. This video leaves little wonder why
these things happen.

Having spent 18 years trying to design software and websites to be idiot-
proof, to me it looks like they could seriously use some human-friendly UI and
procedure design. When the stakes are as high as they are during a packed
commercial flight, it would seem to me that maximum possible simplicity would
be the goal. Perhaps a "flight checklist wizard". It is possible to enable the
granular control that pilots need without making them _this_ complex.

~~~
yetanotherphd
I was also thinking about this. Even if the controls and procedures remain
completely unchanged, it should be possible to issue warnings when things were
done wrong. In fact I'd be surprised if this wasn't at least partially
implemented already.

~~~
bulte-rs
Next to some planes having electronicaketen checklists; some "older planes"
have a somewhat simpler form of digital checks. For example: the 737-800 has a
take-off configuration warning (a Horn) When the thrust levers are advanced
without having set a proper flap setting for take-off.

(Unfortunately: this Horn is the same Horn as the cabin altitude warning Horn,
having a big part in the mentioned greek airline incident)

------
JHof
Cool vid, but calling that a 'start up' is a little misleading. There's much
more going on there than starting the engines. Modern turbine engines are
pretty automated and don't require much more than the push of a button
(starter) and flip of a lever (fuel) to start.

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
>Modern turbine engines are pretty automated and don't require much more than
the push of a button

FADEC notwithstanding, there are easily a half dozen different ways to start
the engines even in normal circumstances, depending upon what ground services
are available, ex: Ground cart vs APU, crossbleed air, electric vs
air(aircraft dependent).

------
vpeters25
Why aren't all these switches hooked to a computer which could run the whole
procedure?

~~~
takluyver
Some of the steps look like they're checking that various warning lights and
systems work correctly, which needs a human in the loop. I guess there are
other bits which require human decisions - e.g. you can't start the engines
without visually checking that no-one is standing near them. Finally, any
automation is another possible system that could fail, so it needs more
examination and testing.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Well, I mean, you could if they integrated sensors into the engine cowling to
detect the presence of a foreign object greater than size X within X meters of
the engine.

Baby steps. Another 5-10 years, and flight will be entirely a tech issue.
Example: Airbus A380 fly by wire.

~~~
snom380
What's special about the A380 FBW? I think you're optimistic with that 5-10
years.

~~~
toomuchtodo
[http://www.airbus.com/innovation/proven-concepts/in-
design/f...](http://www.airbus.com/innovation/proven-concepts/in-design/fly-
by-wire/)

"Incorporating fly-by-wire controls on the A320 allowed Airbus to tailor the
aircraft’s computer flight control laws – adapting them to the pilots’ side-
stick controllers that replaced previous-generation control yokes – while also
introducing flight envelope protection. As a result, flight safety was greatly
increased and the crew’s workload was reduced."

Now, that's a lot of marketing fluff, but aircraft manufacturers continue to
abstract away flight workload. Navigation relies heavily on GPS, and once the
FAA's NextGen ATC system is fully implemented (ADS-B, etc), you'll see victor
airways give way to direct routing. Point, click, navigation done. Flight
separation can be automated as well with ADS-B. Aircraft can already perform
fully automated landings using autoland at Class III ILS runways (which will
make way for cheaper, more precise Local Area Augmentation System, which is
just a fancy DGPS/RTK precision positioning system for airports).

I used the A380 as an example, but the same could be said for Boeing's
Dreamliner. Tech moves slower in aircraft because of FAA regulations and
conservative views (its lives we're talking about of course), but its getting
there.

I would be surprised if you didn't have fully automated flights (take off,
cruise, landing) in 5-10 years using the same guts from UAVs. You'll still
have a pilot onboard, but their workload will be minimal.

------
ChuckMcM
I'm curious about something though, the author "golfcharlie232" has a great
youtube channel [1] with lots of cool videos, but this one is copied off
youtube into its own little player. So basically its taking ad revenue away
from this guy (I presume he keeps the ad revenue).

What is up with that?

[1]
[http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=golfcharlie232&o...](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=golfcharlie232&oq=golfcharlie232&gs_l=youtube.3..0.340.3646.0.3873.14.12.0.2.2.0.166.1232.3j9.12.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.-xnxr53HDoM)

------
kabdib
There are a bunch of similar YouTube videos made by the Baltic Aviation
Academy.

I'm mostly impressed with how simple things are, given the number of
components involved. Seems to be a fine line between "banks of idiot lights"
and flying an airliner with a zillion gauges and dials. There's a crapload of
stuff you need to know about electrical systems, hydraulics, backup systems
and self-diagnostics . . . not to mention actually flying the crate.

------
andrewaylett
A couple of people have hinted at the question, but I'll ask outright in case
someone can answer: How quickly could you just start everything up sans
checklist in an emergency? I thought I saw a couple of switches which actually
started the engines, but I assume that at least some of the preparatory steps
are required.

------
jnsaff2
If you want to try this at home I highly recommend the Level-D 767 add on for
MS Flight Simulator. Has all the panels correctly functional and you can
follow the real checklists from airliners.

------
ethank
Starting my DA20 is much less involved and you get to shout "clear the prop"
which is satisfying. :)

------
ape4
I imagine there's some reason for the different switch: toggles, buttons, etc.

~~~
bulte-rs
All comes down to UX. Simple example: the switches for the lights are oriented
to turning them on is the same as pushing them forward (I.e. The direction the
lights point in).

------
benigeri
I wonder how much of that is actually necessary nowadays.

~~~
gvb
All of it. The pilot is going through a checklist. The checklist is not going
to have unnecessary steps in it. When pilots don't follow the checklist
sometimes they die, so they are pretty religious about following the
checklist.

That is a pretty new 737 (someone speculated 737-800). Note the flat panel
primary displays (color LCDs), that is the tip-off that this is pretty new.

P.S. There is a small piece of me in the FMS.

~~~
bulte-rs
Out of interest: which part of the fms did you build? And thanks: I lovend
working with it.

~~~
gvb
I wrote a lot of the "Dual FMS" BootROM and also the cross-FMS data link
communications handling (TCP/IP originally over a high baud rate async serial
channel). Most of my code is deeply embedded.

~~~
bulte-rs
Awesome!!! Never knew it actually operates over TCP/IP, I always assumed some
custom protocol/ARINC interop between the two units. Can you perhaps elaborate
in some way on the dev environment When working on "stuff like that"? :)

~~~
gvb
New systems (not the 737 FMS) use ARINC-664[1] - UDP/TCP/IP/ethernet with all
the good parts disallowed. :-) The original Dual FMS predates ARINC-664.

The original Dual FMS was a Motorola 68040 (the predecessor FMS was the TI
TMS9900 architecture implemented in bit-slice processors(!), later an ASIC,
because the TI 9900 was a bust. The original code was Fortran, with the Dual
FMS it was ported to Ada.

The development environments back in the late 1980s, early 1990s was custom
hardware and in circuit emulators (ICEs). The ICE plugged into the processor
socket and emulated the processor but with breakpoints and trace. The 68040
was about the end of the line where this worked (the head of the 68040 ICE was
pretty large. There were no "eval" boards to develop code on... we wrote code
and waited for the hardware guys to get the first article built. When the
hardware guys got done with the initial checkout on the first article, we got
the system and started making the code work.

Once we got the hardware, software development was a lot like now: start with
basic functionality, cross your fingers, burn and learn. With the ICE,
"burning" was faster because you substituted ICE RAM for the target flash and
the trace of the ICE was a lot more useful than today's JTAG-based debuggers -
you could see _everything_ for the last 1K-4K instructions, including the
actual states of the pins of the processor.

The development lab had real equipment (e.g. the Control Display Units (CDUs))
and a lot of simulated I/O. The simulated I/O was driven by a flight simulator
running on a Dec MicroVAX. The flight simulator simulated the flight
characteristics of the 737, responding to the commands given by the FMS. Since
I was mostly low-level, I didn't do much with the flight simulators, but I
could enter flight plans (typically "company routes" which are pre-canned
airports, runways, and waypoints) and go through all the motions of flying.
The simulator could speed up time to save time waiting for things to happen.
IIRC, 4x real time was about as fast as you could go because the systems would
go wonky.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avionics_Full-
Duplex_Switched_E...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avionics_Full-
Duplex_Switched_Ethernet)

~~~
bulte-rs
You sir, completely made my day! Both of my nerd personalities envy you :)

------
Aqueous
worst. user interface. ever.

~~~
danellis
How would you improve it?

~~~
xkiwi
lock->power connect->start.

