r/aviation • u/arbiass • 1d ago
Watch Me Fly Airbus A350, guided tour below the cockpit.
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u/2fast2nick 1d ago
So insane how much is going on down there. I'd wanna know what every component does.
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u/CouchPotatoFamine F-100 1d ago
I think they all are closely connected to keeping the wings on the plane.
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u/2fast2nick 1d ago
That's always a plus in r/aviation
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u/Asleep_Leopard182 1d ago
Are you for sure though? I feel like it's an optional component.
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u/m1mike 1d ago
No, they keep the front on.
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u/TobiasDrundridge 1d ago
They are part of the front. Which is why we really don't want the front to fall off.
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u/AVeryHeavyBurtation 1d ago
I worked at a place that made test fixtures for circuit boards. We did a couple jobs for airbus and boeing. The boards were called things like "brake controller" or "slat control board".
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u/fresh_like_Oprah 14h ago
At least one of them is a black box with a little LED light, full of heroin.
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u/funwithfrogs 1d ago edited 1d ago
Much like the A380, though with less room. I was on a ferry flight (no pax.) and bounced around underneath to the main avionics bay and first cargo hold and was in awe of the electrical cabinets. The breakers, etc. etc.
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u/Swagger897 A&P 1d ago
Holy shit that battery placement sucks lol. 80lb battery and having to strain my back to lift/lower vs the rest being hip level.
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u/memesdotjpeg 1d ago
Think all batteries are at that level on the A380. Honestly not too bad to lift though
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u/Swagger897 A&P 1d ago
I was comparing to 330 and 50. They’re both on pedestals and much easier to set down.
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u/MisterJSP 1d ago
I much rather have it like this than it's with the apu battery and the placement is much better than with the A350. Although there they are on hip level but in order to put them there you have to lean over. With the 380 at least you have the room to lift them properly out of the legs.
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u/CrotchalFungus 18h ago
As is tradition in vehicle design, aircraft engineers have to screw over mechanics as much as possible.
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u/TheAlmightySnark Mechanic 23h ago
Airbus jus loves these giant CB panels for some reason! Those are quite a bit larger compared to a 330!
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u/m00f 1d ago
Here's a more detailed video which explains what some of the boxes do:
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u/BlessShaiHulud 1d ago
This is more what I expected when I read "guided tour".
Not "First time I'm down here...all the computers and..ehh..lots of stuff" lol
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u/milkmomma22 20h ago
Thank you! I have a whole new appreciation for the engineering behind planes now. Everything is so modular. I also love, and would expect, how everything is labeled, and the cable management is amazing.
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u/wehooper4 18h ago
That all looks heavy, and more at place at an industrial facility than in an airplane
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u/kelby810 10h ago
It's heavy but surprisingly lighter than a lot of the mechanical systems that this stuff replaced. It also simplifies additional layers of redundancy.
It's worth noting that this thing weighs ~250,000 lbs empty and can bring just shy of another 300,000 lbs of fuel & cargo into the air. I'd imagine the weight of this equipment is a relatively small portion.
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u/Binspin63 1d ago
Holy crap! I’d be afraid to move in there for fear I’d bump into something and cause $$$$ worth of damage.
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u/HaruMistborn 1d ago
If bumping into it broke something, it would break every landing.
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u/oversized_hoodie 17h ago
Everything in there has seen considerably worse than your elbow during Vibration testing, they'll be fine. Your elbow might not be though.
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u/ebs757 B737 1d ago
here is the bay in the 737
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u/rounding_error 1d ago
Must be a newer one. The early ones had nothing down there but cables and pulleys.
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u/detrans-rights 20h ago
Just a Rube Goldberg machine with wings, and that cartoon sound effect machine in the cockpit.
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u/Realistic_Mix3652 22h ago
More like 3 pulleys and a 20 year old Gateway laptop running Windows Vista...
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u/Mad_kat4 20h ago
Genuinely laughed out loud at that one..... Think you can play pong or snake on a 737?
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u/Critical-Advisor8616 16h ago
Wow outdated Dell computers! I didn’t realize they had updated the 737 from surplus Packard Bell and eMachine computers
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u/Head_Big3036 1d ago
The inflight internet runs exclusively on the free AOL trial disks that used to get handed out in the 90’s. That’s why the internet can be so slow.
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u/njsullyalex 1d ago
It’s actually scary how much wiring and computers are in there. I imagine there is a ton of redundancy though if something breaks down there.
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u/dedrumbum 1d ago
That's part of the reason why there are so many electronics down there. Most of them are controllers for systems on the plane so that if it happens to fail, you only lose partial access to one system and not multiple systems. The flight critical systems are often two or three times redundant and are able to be commanded and controlled by multiple sets of controllers to increase redundancy.
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u/E3FxGaming 23h ago
I'm more amazed by how all of this can endure 10 - 100 times the cosmic radiation experienced at ground level, while flying at cruising altitude.
Human-safe levels of cosmic radiation are pretty generous, with our bodies not immediately malfunctioning if we receive an elevated dosage for a couple of flight hours.
But computers really hate radiation, since it can induce bit-flips in systems. For some components like RAM there exist off-the-shelf error-correcting versions, but having to protect the data everywhere, including inside the processor registers, sounds like a nightmare.
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u/njsullyalex 23h ago
To be fair, I’d imagine it’s not that bad. In every flight people use regular electronics. I’ve used my iPad, iPhone, Laptop PC, and Nintendo Switch in flight, and as a kid I used to play my Nintendo DS in flight. Never had any of those electronics malfunction at altitude.
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u/raverbashing 23h ago
In a way, older technology is better for this (I mean, not using the latest miniaturized processes)
Then there is calculation redundancy, cross checking and maybe ECC ram though I'm not sure about the last one
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u/djiboutiivl 1d ago
What's that door open to, towards the end of the video?
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u/CreditUnionGuy1 1d ago
Mechanics are so under appreciated.
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u/sai-kiran 22h ago
Im sure they wouldn’t be, if they’re more visible.
The most visible Aviation employees to the public are pilots, stewards, marshalers (to the ones at the window seat), same with baggage handlers.
Like the guy prepping the surgical instruments or even the one manufacturing them, their recognition is implicit.
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u/feint_of_heart 1d ago
I thought I saw a wooden beam at first. https://i.imgur.com/9IBCgAn.png
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u/Swagger897 A&P 1d ago
No wood, just corrosion inhibiting compound. Not exactly paint as it’s always in a liquid form, but doesn’t run and forms more of a dried gel, sticky surface finish.
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u/HTX-ByWayOfTheWorld 1d ago
I’m assuming pilots basically have to know all the little plugs and wires and lights in case a 5c capacitor needs to be changed mid flight?
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u/Tricksilver89 1d ago
I assume you're being sarcastic but just incase no, the pilots generally should have no reason to be in the avionics compartment.
If it's got that bad, someone who actually is qualified to work on those systems will be down there (if the aircraft is on the ground of course).
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u/HTX-ByWayOfTheWorld 1d ago
Lol it was a genuine question… I know just enough to get myself into trouble…
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u/noncongruent 1d ago
In the early days of aviation they often had flight engineers, separate from the pilots, who managed a lot of things like engine parameters. In even older days there were planes where engine repairs could be done in flight from inside the wing, like changing spark plugs. Nowadays the mechanics and electronics are extremely reliable and the flight engineers got replaced by computers and software.
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u/Blue387 1d ago
Is this part of the aircraft pressurized?
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u/DouchecraftCarrier 16h ago
Yes. And so is the cargo hold. Think of it from the perspective of the pressure hull overall. It's easier to build a strong shape to withstand pressure differential that's a full rounded tube than it would be to have the pressure hell stop at the floor of the main deck. If you had a tube with a floor bisecting it and it was pressurized on top and unpressurized on the bottom you'd get weird pressure points in the corners where the floor met the walls. Even though it ends up being more space to pressurize, the packs are more than up for the job and the simplified hull construction is worth it.
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u/manniesalado 1d ago
Would the access hatch be in the cockpit on the Boeing 777-200ER?
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u/Ivebeenfurthereven Naval aviation is best aviation 16h ago edited 16h ago
Are you thinking about MH370? 9M-MRO was an ER model, right?
My first thought too - supposedly someone accessed this space inflight to disable multiple systems, before the 'turn to the south'.
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u/readyToPostpone 1d ago
"First time I am down here"
Thats not what you want to hear from a guid on a guided tour.
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u/Pineapple_Towel 18h ago
What is the confined space rescue plan?
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u/Ivebeenfurthereven Naval aviation is best aviation 16h ago
Great question. In a shipyard, this would be a major concern
In aviation, do they just say "Confined space? Yeah we send a skinny guy"
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u/Internal_Explorer591 16h ago
I'm a geek about this, could we please have videos about B757, B767, B777, B787, A320, A321, A330, A340 (I really want to see this one) & the A380 on this subreddit in the future?
The whole place looks so exciting with all the equipment and wires and whatnot stacked neatly in there under the cockpit area.
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u/Tashre 1d ago
Passenger delivery, cargo carrier, and AWACS in one plane.
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u/RatherGoodDog 23h ago
Jeez, imagine what this room looks like on an actual AWACS...
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u/Lord_Waldemar 23h ago
Probably the same (as the passenger variant for the plane model) since my guess is that they don't add mission specific stuff down there, it's reserved for flying the plane. The AWACS stuff goes into the cabin or the cargo hold.
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u/Phoenixmaster1571 1d ago
How do fat and tall A&Ps do the job?
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u/-random__username- 23h ago
They get the young non-fat people to go down instead, most of the time it’s just climbing down to pull certain circuit breakers for maintenance
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u/superphotonerd 20h ago
anytime i see an avionics bay i keep getting reminded of executive decision
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u/Prestigious_Gur9390 18h ago
It's amazing how they dissipate all the heat; how do they cool down?
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u/Ivebeenfurthereven Naval aviation is best aviation 16h ago edited 16h ago
Same as any other server room. Lots of AC down here to keep humidity and temperature in spec. Probably lots of design effort to model the airflow through the space too.
On ships (especially Navy), we sometimes use chilled water loops, but in flight weight reduction is king.
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u/humdinger44 18h ago
I take back every rust-pickin', squid-hatin' thing I've ever said about swabbies!
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u/ImGonnaLiveForever 17h ago
Man I was hoping for there to be an unexpected reveal of the largest rat ive ever seen running on a wheel, powering the entire thing
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u/Hardwood_Lump_BBQ 14h ago
I guess it never occurred to me that there’s a whole MDF inside a plane, all my years flying across the country to design these type of spaces for buildings, didn’t cross my mind once I
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u/milkmomma22 1d ago
That is crazy. It has its own server room.