Saab 340 Pressurization 101
Looking at the pneumatic panel (overhead panel) above the co-pilot's seat, make sure L and R BLD valve switches are to AUTO and that all lights are out. If the FAULT light(s) is on, click RESET once. Without bleed air to the cabin, the cabin will simply not pressurize.
This is usually done after engine start. I'll spare further lecture since it's just a 101 class.
Don't worry about the HP (High Pressure) valves. Those are normally used to draw more bleed air to heat/cool the cabin, operating the de-ice boots and in the case below, to supply additional bleed air to the opposite pack when it's broke. HP operation also increases the engine ITT.
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(Reference pic below)
On the bottom half gauge, make sure AUTO is selected. This will ensure an automatic pressurization schedule occurs. Manual is selected only when AUTO is broke.
The dial with OPEN above it... make sure that is all the way to the left (Closed). This manually opens/closes the outflow valve.
The dial with INCR next to it... make sure the dot and triangle align. This manually controls the cabin rate during MAN mode, but since we're in AUTO we don't mess with this one.
The A-dial: In most airline operations, it is set to the departure airport elevation in case of an emergency return.
The B-dial: set that to the current barometric pressure.
Saab 340 manual Refer to pages:
66
67
70
Quiz tomorrow
Been playing this a little by ear, how to get it flying. However I just couldn't for the life of me figure out that cabin pressure. After 10 minutes in the air, the pilots started fainting / screen going black. Now I'll go mess around with this new found knowledge.