Warning Systems

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Warning Lights

Master Caution and System Annunciator lights, left and right.

The Master Caution system was developed for the 737 to ease pilot workload as it was the first
Boeing airliner to be produced without a flight engineer. In simple terms it is an attention getter
that also directs the pilot toward the problem area concerned. The system annunciators (shown
above) are arranged such that the cautions are in the same orientation as the overhead panel
e.g. FUEL bottom left, DOORS bottom of third column, etc.

On the ground, the master caution system will also tell you if the condition is dispatchable or if
the QRH needs to be actioned. The FCOM gives the following guidance on master caution
illuminations on the ground:

Before engine start, use individual system lights to verify the system status. If an individual
system light indicates an improper condition:
• check the Dispatch Deviations Procedures Guide (DDPG) or the operator equivalent to decide
if the condition has a dispatch effect
• decide if maintenance is needed

If, during or after engine start, a red warning or amber caution light illuminates:
• do the respective non-normal checklist (NNC)
• on the ground, check the DDPG or the operator equivalent

If, during recall, an amber caution illuminates and then extinguishes after a master caution
reset:
• check the DDPG or the operator equivalent
• the respective non-normal checklist is not needed

Pressing the system annunciator will show any previously cancelled or single channel cautions.
If a single channel caution is encountered, the QRH drill should not be actioned.

Master caution lights and the system annunciator are powered from the battery bus and will
illuminate when an amber caution light illuminates. Exceptions to this include a single centre
fuel tank LOW PRESSURE light (requires both), REVERSER lights (requires 12 seconds) and
INSTR SWITCH (inside normal FoV).

When conducting a light test, during which the system will be inhibited, both bulbs of each
caution light should be carefully checked. The caution lights are keyed to prevent them from
being replaced incorrectly, but may be interchanged with others of the same caption.
 Keying of warning lights

 Red lights - Warning - indicate a critical condition and require immediate action.
 Amber lights - Caution - require timely corrective action.
 Blue lights - Advisory - eg valve positions and unless bright blue, ie a valve/switch
disagreement, do not require crew action.
 Green lights - Satisfactory - indicate a satisfactory or ON condition.

Aural Warnings

Cockpit aural warnings include the fire bell, take-off configuration warning, cabin altitude,
landing gear configuration warning, mach/airspeed overspeed, stall warning, GPWS and TCAS.
External aural warnings are: The fire bell in the wheel well and the ground call horn in the nose
wheel-well for an E & E bay overheat or IRS’s on DC. Only certain warnings can be silenced
whilst the condition exists.

To test the GPWS, ensure that the weather radar is on in TEST mode and displayed on the
EHSI. Pressing SYS TEST quickly will give a short confidence test, pressing for 10 seconds will
give a full vocabulary test.
The GPWS pane. Click photo to hear the GPWS vocabulary test. (175kb)

AURAL WARNING PRIORITY LOGIC

MODE PRIORITY DESCRIPTION ALERT LEVEL

WINDSHEAR WINDSHEAR
7 1 W
WINDSHEAR

1 2 PULL-UP (SINK RATE) W

2 3 PULL-UP (TERRAIN CLOSURE) W

2A 4 PULL-UP (TERRAIN CLOSURE) W

V1 5 V1 CALLOUT I

TA 6 TERRAIN TERRAIN PULL-UP W

WXR 7 WINDSHEAR AHEAD W

2 8 TERRAIN TERRAIN C

6 9 MINIMUMS I

TA 10 CAUTION TERRAIN C

4 11 TOO LOW TERRAIN C

TCF 12 TOO LOW TERRAIN C

6 13 ALTITUDE CALLOUTS I

4 14 TOO LOW GEAR C

4 15 TOO LOW FLAPS C

1 16 SINK RATE C

3 17 DONT SINK C

5 18 GLIDESLOPE C

WXR 19 MONITOR RADAR DISPLAY C

 6 20 APPROACHING MINIMUMS I

6 21 BANK ANGLE C

TCAS 22 RA (CLIMB, DESCEND, ETC.) W

TCAS 23 TA (TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC) C

BITE AND MAINTENANCE

TEST 24 I
INFORMATION

Radio Altimeter Callouts

Automatic rad-alt calls are a customer option on the 3-900 series. Calls can include any of the
following:

2500 ("Twenty Five Hundred" or "Radio Altimeter").

1000
500
400
300
200
100
50
40
30
20
10

"Minimums" or "Minimums, Minimums"

"Plus Hundred" when 100ft above DH
"Approaching Minimums" when 80ft above DH
"Approaching Decision Height"
"Decision Height"

Customers can also request special heights, such as 60ft.

Noise Levels

If is often commented how loud these callouts are. The volume level for these callouts and any
other aural warnings is set so that they can still be audible at the highest ambient noise levels,
this is considered to be when the aircraft is at Vmo (340kts) at 10,000ft.

The design sound pressure level at 35,000ft, M0.74, cruise thrust is 87dB at the Captains seat,
compared to 90-93dB in the cabin.

Many pilots consider the 737 flightdeck to be generally loud. This is Boeings response to that
charge:

"Using the flight deck noise levels measured by Boeing Noise Engineering during a typical flight
profile (entire flight), a daily A-weighted sound exposure was calculated using ISO/DIS 1999
standards. This calculation indicates the time weight noise exposure is below 80 db(A) and
should not cause hearing damage. Flight deck noise improvement continues to be a part of
current Boeing product quality improvement activities."

And when asked later about the particularly noisy NG:

"Boeing has conducted extensive flight tests to define the contributing noise sources for the
737 Flight Deck. Subsequently, various system and hardware modifications have been
evaluated for possible improvements. Currently there are no proposed changes where the
benefits are significant enough to warrant incorporation. Additional candidates are currently
under study and if their merit is validated, they could be incorporated at a later date during
production and retrofit."

That said, in 2005 Boeing added 10 small vortex generators at the base of the windscreen
which reduce flightdeck aerodynamic noise by 3dB. (See fuselage page for photo).

Stall Warning

For a full description of the stall warning system follow this link

Stall warning test

requires AC power.
Also, with no hydraulic
pressure, the leading
edge flaps may droop
enough to cause an
asymmetry signal,
resulting in a failure of
the stall warning
system test. If this
happens, switch the
"B" system electric
pump ON to fully
retract all flaps and
then repeat the test.

System test switches

on the aft overhead
panel

The 737-1/200's had a different stall warning panel as shown below:

The OFF light may indicate either a failure of the heater of the angle of attack sensor a system
signal failure or a power failure.

The test disc should rotate, indicating electrical continuity, when the switch is held to the test
position.

737-200 Stall Warning Panel

TCAS

Various versions of
TCAS have been fitted
to the 737 since its
introduction in the
1990's. The early days
of TCAS there were
different methods of
displaying the visuals.
For the Honeywell
system (Previously
AlliedSignal, previous to
that - Bendix/King),
their most popular
method for non-EFIS
airplanes was to install
an RA/VSI which was a
mechanical VSI that
had the "eyebrows" on
the outer edge directing
the pilot to climb
(green) or stay away from (red) and use the separate Radar Indicator for the basic traffic
display. Even early EFIS aircraft had the RA/VSI (see photos left & right)

TCAS is now integrated at production into the EFIS displays. The PFD/EADI will display
advisories to climb, descend, or stay level since they give the vertical cue to the pilot. The
ND/EHSI provides the map view looking down to show targets and their relative altitude and
vertical movement relative to your aircraft.
 TCAS display integrated onto the ND

TCAS control is from

the transponder panel.

Note that with the

mode switch in the
STBY position, no
transmissions will
occur. When selected,
modes A and C will
only transmit when the
aircraft is not on the
ground, but mode S
will operate regardless of air/ground status.

Weather Radar

The beamwidth of the 737 weather radar depends upon the size of the flat-plate antenna
installed in the aircraft. 3 size options are available:

Beam Beam
Series Diameter
height width

NG 23" 3.6 deg 3.4 deg

NG 28.4" 5.4 deg 5.4 deg

NG/MAX 30" 3 deg 3 deg

To calculate the height of the cloud tops above your altitude use the following formula:

Cloud tops above a/c (ft) = range (nm) x (tilt - 1.5 deg) x 100

eg Wx at range 40nm stops painting at +2deg tilt. The tops would be 40 x 0.5 x 100 = 2000ft
above your level.

Weather radar or terrain can be overlaid onto the EHSI with these switches on the classics. In
the NG the overlay switches are part of the EFIS control panel. The colours may appear similar
but their meanings are very different.

737 NG's are fitted with predictive windshear system (PWS). This is available below 2300ft.
You do not need weather radar to be switched on for PWS to work, since it switches on
automatically when take-off thrust is set. However there is a 12 sec warm up period, so if you
want PWS available for the take-off you should switch the weather radar on when you line up.
Windshear warning displayed on the ND. Notice the cone and range at which windshear is
predicted.

EGPWS - Peaks Display

The Peaks display overlays

EGPWS terrain information onto
the EHSI. The colour coding is
similar to wx radar but with
several densities of each colour
being used. The simplified key
is:

Color Altitude Diff from Aircraft (ft)

Black No terrain

Cyan Zero ft MSL (Customer option)

Green -2000 to +250

Yellow -500 to +2000

Red +2000 or above

Magenta Terrain elevation unknown

The two overlaid numbers are the highest and lowest terrain elevations, in hundreds of ft amsl,
currently being displayed. Here 5900ft and 800ft amsl. One of the main difference between
Peaks display and others is that it will show terrain more than 2000ft below your level (eg a
mountain range from cruise altitude). This can be very useful for situational awareness.

EGPWS Limitations

 Do not use the terrain display for navigation.

 Do not use within 15nm of an airfield not in the terrain database.

Proximity Switch Electronic Unit

The Proximity Switch Electronic Unit (PSEU) is a system

that communicates the position or state of system
components eg flaps, gear, doors, etc to other systems.
The 737-NG's are fitted with a PSEU which controls the
following systems: Take-off and landing configuration
warnings, landing gear transfer valve, landing gear
position indicating and warning, air/ground relays, airstairs & door warnings and speedbrake
deployed warning.

SFP aircraft (-800SFP / -900ER) also have an SPSEU which monitors the 2 position tailskid
and the mid exit doors (900ER only).

The PSEU light is replaced by a MAINT light in the Max.

The PSEU/MAINT light is inhibited from when the thrust levers are set for take-off power (thrust
lever angle beyond 53 degrees) until 30 seconds after landing. If the PSEU/MAINT light
illuminates, you have a "non-dispatchable fault" and the QRH says do not take-off. In this
condition the PSEU/MAINT light can only be extinguished by fixing the fault. However if you
only get the PSEU/MAINT light on recall, you have a "dispatchable fault" which it is acceptable
to go with. In this condition the PSEU/MAINT light will extinguish when master caution is reset.