LIGHTING, SIGNS AND INSTALLED COCKPIT EQUIPMENT
Cockpit lighting separates integral panel lighting, flood/work lighting, dome lighting and display brightness. Annunciator-brightness/test functions concern a different part of the presentation from the brightness of a powered display unit. The supplied source also identifies a reduced dome-light provision during battery-only operation. A dark area should therefore be assessed against its actual power path and selected lighting function before declaring an entire electrical failure. Reducing glare while preserving readable indications is part of the equipment’s function, not a cosmetic afterthought. [96, PDF pp. 2–8]
The overhead pushbutton philosophy groups selection with status/failure information wherever practicable, but colours and lights-out conventions require context. An illuminated indication may identify a temporarily used system, an abnormal selection, a test or an action required. It is unsafe to replace the actual label with a general rule that every light should be extinguished or that every white/blue indication is a fault. Read the relevant control description and the resulting system page together. [97, PDF pp. 2–3] [60, ECAM colour/status conventions]
External lighting and cabin signs support the phase of operation and the people around the aircraft. Their normal selections belong to the current movement and clearance, not to a remembered photograph. Emergency lighting is a separate protection function with its own arming and supply arrangement; an emergency-exit light cannot be assessed merely by the normal cabin-brightness selection. Installed equipment also includes seats, harnesses, windows and escape provisions whose correct state matters independently of the main avionics displays. [23, PDF pp. 1012, 1063–1064, 1159–1161] [96, Contents, exterior/emergency lighting and signs scope] [97, PDF pp. 4–8]
Equipment options can change what is visible without changing the underlying operational question. Standby-instrument presentation, brake-fan controls, cockpit audio panels and cabin layouts must be matched to their effectivity. A missing optional switch should not be invented to make a generic illustration match the aircraft, while a visible switch is not proof of a fully simulated maintenance subsystem. Keep equipment identity in the configuration record. That allows an observed difference between two Fenix aircraft to be explained before it is labelled a failure. [70, Available Options and platform-specific descriptions] [52, Cabin/equipment options] [97, Source scope and equipment arrangement]