Overhead Scan - Oxygen Panel (Capt)
by Eric Bradley, 16 July 2015

The first panel to deal with in the overhead scan, is the Captain's Side Oxygen Panel. The panel is divided into three sections.


Drawing: Eric Bradley [© 2015]

The most forward section of the panel has a switch for activating the windshield wipers and a push-button for applying rain repellent (this is a chemical that can be sprayed onto the outside surface to help improve visibility in extreme weather conditions – you can get more information about it at Donaldson Aerospace).

Unless it is raining, check that the wipers are switched off. Even if it is raining you don't really need to switch on the wipers until you are ready to taxi.

The center section of the panel has 4 call buttons, used to summon ground crew, flight attendants in the forward part of the passenger cabin, flight attendants in the aft passenger cabin, or in case of emergency to get the attention of all flight attendants in all parts of the aircraft. You don't need to take any action for these.

Finally we come to the last section of the panel, which is where we will encounter our first push buttons that have lights. Something important to understand is that sometimes the lights mean something is switched on and other times that something is switched off, depending on which button it is. It is important to know the difference.

Ignore the Mask deployment switch (this is used to manually deploy the oxygen masks in the passenger cabin). The Passenger Sys light should be off, because it only illuminates if the oxygen mask doors in the passenger cabin are open.

Finally you will come to the first button that should be lit — the Crew Supply button. It is illuminated to indicate that the crew oxygen supply is turned off, and you will definitely want to turn the crew oxygen supply on, so push the button to do this. The light should go out.