Checklist and GSX

[Sabretooth78 56]

I just thought I would bring to light a little issue I experienced with the A320 checklist/copilot feature yesterday, with regard to GSX's pushback feature.  I'm posting this not so much as a bug report since I'm not sure of the repeatability (or if it's just specific to certain airports for some reason, etc.) as I didn't perform extensive testing, but rather as notification of a workaround in the event somebody else encounters the problem.

 

I was departing Hewanorra Int'l (St. Lucia, TLPL) and one of the departure procedures there is for heavy and medium jets to push back prior to start up.  So I requested pushback from GSX (the setting to allow AES/GSX pushbacks is set in the Bus' MCDU) and selected "no" for the option of start before pushback when prompted.  Once pushback was completed, GSX prompted to start the engines and ended its procedure, at which time I started #2, waited for stabilization and then started #1.  The only problem is that the copilot never announced "engine X stabilized" for either engine, and I sat and waited a few minutes before just taking over manually.  In fact it wasn't until I arrived at KJFK some four hours later, when upon vacating the runway what else did I hear but my trusty copilot announcing engines stabilized and then proceeding with the After Start checklist!

 

Curious but past my bedtime, I tried this again in a completely different situation and everything worked perfectly (this time an A318 CFM from Manchester, NH - KMHT in icing conditions and therefore with another delayed startup).  I decided to go back and try the A320 IAE at TLPL again, once with pushback before startup and once with pushback after.  Same behavior with both tests - only difference being this time, once the engine physically stabilized I tried advancing the throttle slightly - no need to punch it, just hitting 25% N1 was sufficient - and upon returning to idle the copilot announced the engine(s) stabilized and the checklists then continued normally.  Just one of those little things to keep in mind, I suppose.

 

If you're wondering why returning the engines to idle prior to the takeoff roll didn't jog the copilot from his slumber, it's probably because I disabled the feature entirely until sometime later in the flight when I turned it back on figuring that he might come back to life prior to descent much like it does after loading a saved flight.

[softreset 9]

Interesting, I've run into issues once or twice before with IAE engines (A320) but I just tried to reproduce your issue with the included BA livery on the IAE 320 at TLPL with GSX and while the confirmation of engine stabilization for #1 took a while it still came. I'll have to keep fooling with it.

 

 

[Sabretooth78 56]

In my initial case and last test, I didn't commence startup until after the pushback was complete and was given the go-ahead to start by GSX (shortly after the "left is clear, right is clear") announcement.  Otherwise pretty similar except that I was using the JetBlue N615JB (red FDNY) repaint available here.  I'm having trouble recalling exactly now, but I think in the one situation where I commenced engine #2 start prior to pushback, the copilot did announce stabilized for #2 but not for #1, which wouldn't have occurred until after the pushback was complete.  Almost as if there's some hangup with the Bus realizing GSX is done or something.  I'm thinking your slight flick of the throttle may have been enough to give it what it needed to keep going?

 

I'm not too bothered by it in the end, but it's something to keep an eye out for going forward.

 

Also, not sure if it makes a difference but I'm running ORBX FTX and the one of only two wide-area addon sceneries I use just happens to be the 5-volume freeware PW Sceneries for the Leeward Islands, which includes TLPL - so I'd almost wonder if the slightly different AFCAD might be another variable coming into play somehow.  I happened to be using gate 2 for both tests (G2 actually, I think, to be specific), if that even makes a difference.