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Anybody "nailed" Cuzco in A320?


glenmornan

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Just wondering if anybody had tried this out and succeeded without crashing. I'm not very good at the proper sim speak but hopefully I'll be able to tell you what went wrong. I have the Latin VFR airport scenery installed for Cuzco and the 1st try was in a 318 from Lima SPJC (stlll referred to by its old ICAO code as SPIM in FSX)  airport with "DARKI  A" STAR to Cuzco. 

 

I am using the latest Nav Data Pro Charts from Aerosoft, and now realise there are two approach charts to Cuzco. The final approach chart indicates minimum altitude of 13400 at marker Z0560, descending to 12700 at Z0556. I stupidly forgot to check the altitude restrictions in the Initial Approach chart, which requires a minimum altitude of 16500 at Z0612, and with my altitude set at 13400 the inevitable happened, and the 'bus collided with the mountain.

 

On the second go I corrected the altitude for the initial approach, but found as the aircraft completed the 180 turn prior to the final approach, I had insufficient time to deploy the flaps, lower the gear, disconnect the autopilot etc, I had to initiate a go-around, and just ended the flight there before I went mountaineering again.

 

Third time I upped my game to a 320 but decided to use the "DARKI B" STAR. Everything went well and I decided to deploy the flaps and lower the gear before entering the final 180, degree turn, which ended up being on a wider vector than my first two attempts. With runway in sight I disconnected the autopilot, but couldn't bleed the speed off quick enough due to the steep descent rate. I had changed to manual speed mode before the landing with a setting of 138 knots, but with the runway approaching fast my speed was well over 220 knots and rising. I tried to land at that speed but overshot the runway by a mile or two!

 

You basically need to lose 5000 feet in a very short time to land successfully at Cuzco, and I'm wondering if I'd be better leaving the speedbrake out, the same as you would on a 318 using the "Steep Approach" procedure? Or better still, can any body tell me how it is done in the real world? The island of Samos in Greece is also pretty scary, but there is a more or less standard means of approaching the runway in VFR mode by using local landmarks as guides on the way down. 

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Sorry, missed that bit altogether. I'd better get the manual out and find the relevant info. I'll also see if I can find anything on You Tube. I have played around at Cuzco with the default Cessna and found climbing was a bit pedestrian, although taking off and landing weren't a problem. 

 

Bet you get fed up with old guys like me from the steam age who just want to go for it instead of doing the homework first! 

 

Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how I get on. 

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HI,

 

I did find the Aerosoft version of the airport and read the info that relates to high altitude operations. I think I bought the wrong version, as I could do with the upward incline on that runway. 

 

I also read that Airbus China have apparently undertaken some modifications of the pressurisation system to the A319 for high altitude work there. Apparently the operators also fit special tyres made to cope with the higher landing speeds. However, I'm not too worried about that, as I doubt whether anybody will bother to develop the relevant mods for the default Aerosoft package, unless it will be featured in the 2018 version? 

 

Here it is if anybody is interested:-  http://www.caac.gov.cn/ZTZL/RDZT/XJSYY/201511/P020151126413567294102.pdf 

 

I managed to watch a few You Tube videos and now believe I know what I was doing wrong. Speedbrake on all but the A318 equipped for Steep Approach apparently should not be used with anything greater than Flaps 2, and some operators have equipment fitted to specifically prevent deployment of the speedbrake at flap settings greater than 2. All of the final approaches I viewed were with full flaps, and speed brake not extended. 

 

Turns out I was taking too direct a course towards the runway instead of losing height by making a right turn after clearing the mountain in the initial part of the approach. The autopilot must be disconnected at that same time, which was confirmed by the videos I saw. There is actually plenty of time to lose the necessary altitude, although you consequently need to make a fairly sharp left turn to line up with the runway. The default FSX scenery is not very good at that location and there are no decent landmarks to guide you on the descent path. At least with Samos you have a pier, a mountain village, and a large white roofed agricultural shed to help, but I couldn't find much of assistance at Cuzco. Definitely one to be tried again later when there are no grandchildren, kittens, (or wife!) distracting me. 

 

 

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Well, I managed it, although the final approach speed was horrific, and there was one hell of a heavy landing. Keeping your speed low at that altitude is a tall order, and I'm amazed that the sim/aircraft model recreates that phenomenon (or does it?). The videos I saw of A320s landing had full flaps selected with about 5000 feet still to descend, and they reckon those beefed up tyres are only good for 195 knots. I was just over 200 knots when I touched down, and could have done with arrestor cables on that runway which hasn't been modelled at the correct incline. 

 

Think I'll need to get better South American scenery and the Aerosoft version of Cuzco before I have a nervous breakdown with the scenery I'm using! 

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OK. If anybody contemplates this one, this is the best workaround I could find, in absence of any inside knowledge of real world stuff.  Try selecting  DARKI C STAR (if approaching from Lima) as it uses a wider 180 degree left turn before the final approach. Once you are well into the turn you should be at an altitude of 16500 feet, and you then need to select 12700 on the MCP as per the altitude at the Z0556 marker. 

 

As you begin to descend you'll see the runway at about 1 o'clock and in an ideal world your first officer would presumably be checking your descent and adjusting the FPA. However, you're playing solitaire and you haven't got time for anything else but to kill the autopilot and get on with the task of landing. Experienced simmers will probably use their own judgement, but I decided to disconnect as soon as I had reached 12700 feet. Hopefully you'll be able to descend that final 1900 feet without too much of an increase in airspeed, but be prepared to land at about 160 knots if you are a bit impatient with that descent, like I am. If you are very lucky or very clever you may have reached a sufficiently low ground speed to turn off the runway before you reach the main terminal building.

 

The description in my previous post with the 200 plus knot landing was straight out of a fiction novel, and the fact that I have returned to the hobby after a very long lay-off should be taken into consideration. I appreciate that no real world pilot would have even attempted such a landing, even if he/she had crash detection disabled!  

 

I felt a bit short-changed that Aerosoft don't model the High Altitude Landing Lights (situated in the lower left section of the overhead panel in aircraft which have them fitted), so I'm off to my old stomping grounds of swampy Finland, where things are a bit more sensible. Mega Airport Helsinki is a frame buster, although my system handles it (on FSX) at highest resolution without going into single figures. Can't wait for the snowploughs to start working on those runways, and I'm growing my white beard for the kids on Christmas trips to Rovaniemi! 

 

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