Script Document

Safety: Caution and Warning

Script Writer: Michael Pittman

Lesson Introduction
You are cruising along at 37,000 feet on a flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. Just when you are starting to enjoy
the tranquillity of another beautiful sunset, a persistent beeping noise demands your attention. You look down and
are astonished to find flashing lights and messages popping up on your Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System
(EICAS). Dont worry, you are flying the 777. This airplane practically tells you what to do in the event of an
emergency or abnormal condition. So get excited, not stressed, for the Caution and Warning System by Angle of
Attack.
In this lesson, we will cover the following topics:

Warning System Overview

Master Warning/Caution Switchlights
Aural Alerts
Engine and Crew Alerting System (EICAS)
Abnormal Electronic Checklists
Alert Inhibits

Silence the master caution alert. We are about to start our lesson.

Warning System Overview

To help keep you safe in the air, you have the master caution and warning system in the 777. This system has a
collection of lights and displays that work together to help you diagnose and correct the abnormal or emergency
condition. Similar to most large jet aircraft, the 777 has Master Caution and Warning switchlights located on the pilot
glare shield. These switchlights illuminate when any of the thousands various sensors on the 777 detect an abnormal
or emergency condition. They help get the pilots attention that there is a potential problem.
Depending on what the warning or caution is for; an aural alert might sound as well. There are different aural alerts
depending on the condition.
Dont worry, the EICAS screen will help calm you down and show you the actual problem. The EICAS will display a
message of the abnormal condition it has detected. Next, you refer to the Electronic Checklists to get everything back
to normal, or as close to normal as you can.
Now that you know generally how the caution and warning system works, lets explore each of these components in
more detail.

Master Warning/Caution Switchlights

When an emergency or abnormal condition occurs, the aircraft sensors send a signal for the Master Warning/Caution
switchlights to illuminate. The 777 has two of these switchlights located on the pilots glare shield, one on each pilots
side. The switchlight itself it divided into two sections, the Master Warning red portion and Master Caution yellow

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Safety: Caution and Warning
Script Writer: Michael Pittman

part. Warning conditions are urgent items that require immediate pilot action to ensure continued safety of flight.
Caution conditions are less urgent but still serious items that could affect safety of flight if they are not dealt with in a
prompt manner.
When an abnormal or emergency condition is detected, these switchlights will remain illuminated until they are
either reset or corrective action is made. After you recognize what the problem is, it is a good idea to push either
switchlight to reset the master warning/caution system. This not only gets rid of that annoying bright light, but it also
allows the warning/caution system to light up these switchlights again if there is another problem. Hopefully not, as
you are already trying to fix the first problem!

Aural Alerts
Not only are there bright lights to get your attention in an emergency, but also loud noises. The 777 features several
tones and voices to help the pilot recognize and solve the problem condition. Since these aural alerts can be rather
annoying and distracting, they only sound when there is a warning, caution, or medium level communication alert.
Most of the time, these alerts can be silenced by pressing the Master Warning/Caution switchlights. All continuous
alerts are automatically silenced when the alert condition no longer exists.
Get ready for some annoying noises. Lets go through each of the aural alerts:

The Beeper sounds when there is system master caution. Fortunately, this alert silences after playing once.
Hearing the Bell, except during your normal preflight checks, is not a good thing. This means the master
warning system has detected a fire. This Bell will continue until you press the illuminated Master Warning
switchlight.
The Chime sounds when you have medium level communication alerts. This only sounds once for each
communication received. The Master Warning/Caution switchlights do not illuminate for communication
alerts.
Just like an ambulances siren, you will hear the aircraft Siren when there is an emergency condition. It will
sound in conjunction with the Master Warning switchlight illuminating red. This will not sound for a detected
fire; you will only get the Bell. You must press the Master Warning switchlight to silence this annoying alert.
Have you ever laughed at the funny robotic voice on your handheld GPS? Well the 777 also has a voice of its
own. Voice alerts will sound for time critical alert conditions, such as ground proximity, engine failure, and
traffic alerts. The voice will keep talking to you until you correct the condition it is telling you about, such as
climbing away from traffic. You will also hear the aircraft voice for normal, time critical information such as
altitude callouts and takeoff decision V1 speed.
When you disconnect the autopilot, a Wailer will sound to alert you that you are the one flying the aircraft. To
quickly silence this alert, repeatedly press the autopilot disengage button.

There are a few aural alerts that cannot be silenced by pressing the master warning/caution switchlights. Most of the
time, you have to correct the triggering condition first. These are the:
Takeoff configuration warning: This warning is armed when you set takeoff thrust. It lets you know that flaps,
gear steering, rudder, spoilers, horizontal stabilizer, and spoilers are not in the takeoff position. It also alerts

Script Document
Safety: Caution and Warning
Script Writer: Michael Pittman

you if the parking brake is set or all of the doors are not closed. You wouldnt want your favorite flight
attendant to go skydiving without a parachute, now would you?
Overspeed warning: I know you have a date tonight, but if you get going too fast, you wont make it anyways
when your wings snap off. If you hear this warning, slow down to stop the annoying noise.
Autopilot disconnect: We already talked about how to silence this Wailer. Let me give you a hint, it is not the
Master Warning/Caution switchlight.
Landing configuration: This annoying aural alert lets you know that you are approaching the ground without
your landing gear extended. This alert is triggered by the aircraft being in flight, gear not being down and
locked, and flap lever is 25 or more. This is also triggered if the gear is not down and locked with any thrust
lever at idle when you are 800 feet or less above the ground. It would be a good idea to pay attention to this
alert. I am sure your company wouldnt like to see your pretty airplane skid down the runway.

Now that you know about the bright lights and noises of the Master Warning/Caution system, lets move on to the
EICAS messages.

Engine and Crew Alerting System (EICAS)

While the Master Caution/Warning switchlights and aural alerts get your attention, the Engine and Crew Alerting
System (EICAS) is where you will turn to find out the actual problem. The actual issue or issues are displayed here in
textual form. Conveniently, for every system alert message, there is a Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) procedure
that will guide you to solve the problem. In addition to displaying these system alert messages, the EICAS also shows
communication alerts, memo messages, status messages, and maintenance information. While the aircraft will
pleasantly surprise you with many of these various messages in Flightwork, lets briefly discuss each message
category so you can get a general understanding what each means.

System Alert Messages

System alert messages are for time critical warnings, warnings, cautions, and advisories. These are triggered by
system failures or faults that may need you to get out that abnormal checklist to fix the problem. An example of a
system alert caution message would be the FUEL IMBALANCE amber message on the EICAS. In this situation, you
would additionally hear the aural beeper four times and the master caution switchlight would illuminate amber.
There are also some system alert messages that are not caused by failures or faults such as altitude alerts,
configuration warnings, and overspeed warnings. In these situations, the Master Warning/Caution switchlight will
not illuminate.
Advisory system alerts basically let the crew know that something is operating in a non-normal mode. Advisories do
not necessarily mean something is wrong. Lets say youre starting your day and you see an ELEC CABIN/UTIL OFF
amber indented EICAS message. All this means is that you just havent had a chance to turn on the cabin/utility
power switch. Just tell the airplane to calm down; you havent even sat down in your comfy seat yet.

Communication Alerts

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Safety: Caution and Warning
Script Writer: Michael Pittman

When company, ATC, the cabin, or ground handlers try to contact you or send you data, you will get a white bulleted
EICAS communication alert accompanied by a high-low chime. There are several different messages that can be
displayed here such as FMC. This particular message means you have received FMC data such as that final weight and
balance information from company that you have been anxiously awaiting. The three levels of communication alerts
are High, Medium and Low. High is not currently used but medium is generally for routine communications to the
cockpit. An example of Low would be when a lost data link connection has been re-established. This would generate
a white bulleted and indented DATALINK AVAIL message.

Memo and Status Messages

Memo messages tell you the current status of manually or automatically controlled aircraft systems. They are
displayed in white font. Status messages are simply minor messages that usually do, however, affect aircraft dispatch.
They are viewed on the MFD STATUS page. If you get one of these messages in flight, dont panic. Just write the
discrepancy in the aircraft logbook and maintenance will take care of the issue. If you are on the ground with this
message, you will have time for that lunch break as maintenance will need to fix the problem.
As you can tell, the EICAS screen could get cluttered with several messages for an abnormal condition or even simply
a normal condition like when you first hop into the airplane. To help you sort through this cluttered mess, the EICAS
sorts these messages by first, how important it is and then, by when the event happened. Red warning messages
require your immediate attention so they will be displayed 1st on the EICAS screen. Less critical white memos will be
displayed below other messages toward the bottom of the screen. Here is the EICAS message priority in descending
order:
Warning- red messages
Caution- amber messages
Advisory- amber, indented messages
Medium level communication- white messages, preceded by a dot
Low level communication white, indented message preceded by a dot
Memo- white messages
If you have a busy day with more than 11 messages, below the alert field you will notice a page cue. To move to the
next page of messages, press the Cancel/Recall switch on the display select panel. Pushing this button also functions
to clear all of the old caution and advisory alerts. To check which conditions still exist, simply press the Cancel/Recall
button again.
Another cool feature with the EICAS is that if you see a weird engine, electrical, or other system indication, you can hit
the EVENT RECORD switch. This will manually capture and record all parameters for that exact snapshot in time.
That way when you are telling the doubting mechanic the right engine is running hot you can show him the data to
back your claim up.

Abnormal Electronic Checklists

Now that you have figured out what the problem is, it is time to figure out how to fix the problem. The 777 offers you
two options, the preferred abnormal electronic checklists or the old paper abnormal checklists. Old paper checklists
dont sound too exciting, plus I am sure youve used those before, so lets talk about the abnormal electronic

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Safety: Caution and Warning
Script Writer: Michael Pittman

checklists. Automatically when there is a detected abnormal condition, the 777 will display the appropriate abnormal
electronic checklist on the Multi-Function Display (MFD). If you were in the process of completing a normal checklist,
it will be superseded by the more important abnormal checklist.
Now dont get too comfortable with the airplane always choosing the appropriate checklist for you. Certain unannunciated emergencies will not cause a checklist to be displayed, such as the sneaky fuel leak. You wouldnt want
to start crossfeeding fuel with a fuel leak. You might unknowingly go from being a jet pilot to a glider pilot.
More detailed information on the fancy Electronic Checklists can be found in the Flight Instruments Groundwork
section.

Alert Inhibits
You in the approach phase. The weather is at minimums, winds are gusty, and tensions are high in the cockpit. It is so
silent on the flight deck; you could hear a pin drop. You are wrestling the airplane down, approaching minimums
when all the sudden, a loud beeping noise starts blaring into your eardrums. You get distracted, putting you off
course, and you have no choice but to go missed approach.
To prevent this exact situation from occurring, the 777 has alert inhibits relevant to what phase of flight you are in.
The aircrafts logic knows that you are busy in the takeoff and landing critical phases of flight. When an alert is
inhibited, it will still be displayed on the EICAS. You will not, however, get a bright Master Warning/Caution light or
an aural alert. If the inhibited item goes uncorrected after you have transitioned from this critical phase of flight, you
will get the bright Master Warning/Caution light and aural alert.
After you accelerate past V1 on takeoff, you are taking off no matter what. This is why the only time the fire bell and
Master Warning lights are inhibited is on takeoff after V1 up to 400 feet AGL or 25 seconds after V1, whichever
happens first. After that, you will get the bright red light and loud fire bell! Takeoff configuration warnings are also
inhibited after V1 for the same reason.
All Master Caution lights and aural noises are inhibited on takeoff from 80 knots to 400 feet AGL or 20 seconds after
rotation, whichever comes first. With LAND 2 or LAND 3 autopilot modes, all Master Caution lights and aural noises
are inhibited from 200 feet AGL until less than 75 knots groundspeed, 40 seconds have elapsed, or radio altitude is
greater than 800 feet. However, the important caution messages that may change your decision from landing to goaround are not inhibited. These are: AUTOPILOT, NO AUTOLAND, SPEEDBRAKE EXTENDED, and AUTOTHROTTLE
DISC.
Advisory messages are inhibited on takeoff after 80 knots and all the way to 400 feet AGL or 20 seconds after lift-off,
whichever happens first.
If your favorite company dispatcher is trying to send you a love note over data link, it will have to wait until after
takeoff. All communication alert messages and their associated chimes are inhibited after you apply takeoff thrust
until 400 feet AGL or 20 seconds after takeoff, whichever occurs first. On landing, most of these communication

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Safety: Caution and Warning
Script Writer: Michael Pittman

messages as well as status alerts and chimes are inhibited below 800 feet AGL to 75 knots of groundspeed. On the
ground, status messages are inhibited from engine start until 30 minutes after liftoff.
The 777 is also smart when you go to shut down your engines after a long day of work. Shortly after you put the fuel
control switch to cutoff, the EICAS alert message ENG SHUTDOWN L or R is displayed. Associated alerts such as
BLEED OFF and ELEC GEN OFF are inhibited. Makes sense that your generator is no longer working when you shut
down your engine, right?
There are several other inhibits that are built into the 777 that would take days to talk about. We will not inhibit
your future knowledge on this subject; feel free to explore this more during Flightwork.

Lesson Summary
As you have learned, the 777 has numerous bells and whistles to alert you when something isnt quite right. This can
seem overwhelming at first, but once you practice a few emergencies, youll see that each one is practically the same.
First, you are alerted that there is a problem. Next, you identify the problem and find the appropriate checklist to
solve the problem. You do the items in the checklist that apply. After you do all of this, then you evaluate your actions
and see if what you did corrected/helped your problem. During Flightwork, we are confident you will become a
Master of the Master Caution and Warning system. Here are the topics we covered in this section:

Warning System Overview

Master Warning/Caution Switchlights
Aural Alerts
Engine and Crew Alerting System (EICAS)
Abnormal Electronic Checklists
Alert Inhibits

We hope you have enjoyed the Master Caution and Warning System by Angle of Attack. Feel free to check out our
other Safety sections.
Until next time, Throttle On!