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Descent Bug or Pilot Error?


Zimmerbz

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I had my first flight tonight on Pilotedge and it went great.  However, I am not sure if I ran into a known issue or pilot error.  I was flying the A319 from KLAS-KSFO.  Everything was great out of KLAS.  I flew the departure by hand for a while then kicked in the AP to cruise.  ATC had me descend a good 40 miles before I was scheduled descend so I switched to an open descent from FL260 to 240 per ATC.  I pulled the knob back, picked my V/s to get to the altitude and punched the altitude I was given by ATC.  However, once at 240 I was told again to descend via the STAR.  The issue is I couldn't get it back into an MCDU managed descent to follow the star.  I had to use V/S all the way down which made it a little more difficult.  Can you let me know what I did incorrectly or if this is an issue.  The only way to descend was V/S the rest of the way and I had plenty of time on the STAR to get back into the descent on the STAR.  Thanks!

 

BZ

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4 hours ago, Zimmerbz said:

I had my first flight tonight on Pilotedge and it went great.  However, I am not sure if I ran into a known issue or pilot error.  I was flying the A319 from KLAS-KSFO.  Everything was great out of KLAS.  I flew the departure by hand for a while then kicked in the AP to cruise.  ATC had me descend a good 40 miles before I was scheduled descend so I switched to an open descent from FL260 to 240 per ATC.  I pulled the knob back, picked my V/s to get to the altitude and punched the altitude I was given by ATC.  However, once at 240 I was told again to descend via the STAR.  The issue is I couldn't get it back into an MCDU managed descent to follow the star.  I had to use V/S all the way down which made it a little more difficult.  Can you let me know what I did incorrectly or if this is an issue.  The only way to descend was V/S the rest of the way and I had plenty of time on the STAR to get back into the descent on the STAR.  Thanks!

 

BZ

 

You said you had open descent, but that that included pulling the vs knob. Now, I am sure you're aware of this, but you pull the knob that selects the altitude to get to Open Descent (or open climb), you push the knob that selects altitude to get Managed Descent (or managed climb), you pull the knob that selects vertical speed to get Selected Vertical Speed and you push the knob that selects vertical speed to level off, inducing a vertical speed selection of '0' (it says "push to level off" right next to that knob). If you are being able to select your vertical speed, that means you're in selected vertical speed mode, not Open Descent, which means you pulled the VS knob instead of the altitude knob. I suspect you're pushing the wrong button. Try pushing the knob you use to select the altitude and let us know if it works. 

 

Now, if I'm wrong in my suspicions, please provide a screenshot. It may be that there is an altitude constraint preventing you from descending.

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I might have worded this incorrectly.  Here is what happened.  I was at cruise FL260 and was approximately 40 miles from TOD.  ATC had me descend to FL240.  So I pull the altitude knob, select FL240 and put a V/S of -800 to get down to the altitude.  At this point I am level at 240 and still 20-30 miles from the programmed TOD.  I wanted to go back to the MCDU management so as I got closer to TOD, I change the altitude to the lowest altitude on the SID before the approach, and push that knob to go back to managed.  It would descend, but it would either revert back to v/s or it would just have -------- but no dot and the plane would level off.  I'm guessing I did something incorrectly but no matter how many times I'd push both knobs to go back to managed, it would either level off or descend via v/s.  Thoughts? 

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I might have worded this incorrectly.  Here is what happened.  I was at cruise FL260 and was approximately 40 miles from TOD.  ATC had me descend to FL240.  So I pull the altitude knob, select FL240 and put a V/S of -800 to get down to the altitude.  At this point I am level at 240 and still 20-30 miles from the programmed TOD.  I wanted to go back to the MCDU management so as I got closer to TOD, I change the altitude to the lowest altitude on the SID before the approach, and push that knob to go back to managed.  It would descend, but it would either revert back to v/s or it would just have -------- but no dot and the plane would level off.  I'm guessing I did something incorrectly but no matter how many times I'd push both knobs to go back to managed, it would either level off or descend via v/s.  Thoughts? 

It sounds to be like you are pulling and pushing the VS/FPA knob, not the altitude selector knob.

If you pull the altitude selector knob you will get OP DES. The VS window will stay closed and you will get an idle descent at the managed or selected IAS.

If you push the altitude selector knob you will get managed descent.

If you pull the VS/FPA knob to the right of the altsel, the VS window will open and you set a target vertical speed, which the aircraft will maintain. If you push the VS/FPA knob, on the other hand, the aircraft will level off at the current altitude and maintain it until you tell it to do something else.

Edit: re-reading the other possibility is that you got in to ALT CST in managed descent because of a level restriction programmed further along the STAR. Keep an eye on your FMA: if you get ALT magenta this means there is a constraint between your current level and the level you have put in the ALTSEL. The aircraft will level off at this intermediate altitude until you have passed the constraint.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

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