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  • 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.

  • Make sure to perform a "touch and go" at my Instagram account,

  • the link is in the description below.

  • And don't forget to hit the subscribe button

  • so you won't miss out any upcoming videos.

  • 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.

Dear friends and followers, welcome back to my channel

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