A320 General Familiarization Practice Test 2025 - Free A320 Familiarization Practice Questions and Study Guide

A secondary failure is a type of failure that occurs as a direct result of a primary failure, leading to a situation where systems function at a degraded level. This concept is especially important in aviation where systems are designed to provide redundancy and maintain safety even in the event of a primary component failure.

When a primary failure happens, it can affect the overall function of a system, which might prompt other components to fail or operate less effectively due to the change in conditions or loads. This cascading effect is what defines a secondary failure. Understanding this relationship is critical for pilots and maintenance personnel, as it helps in diagnosing issues and implementing solutions to restore system functionality.

In contrast, independent failures operate without influence from one another; a primary failure is simply the initial failure without further repercussions; and a dependent failure is one that relies on the occurrence of another failure to happen, but does not necessarily lead to a degraded operation when the primary failure alone occurs.