Finished my first flight

[tup61 185]

Don't know if this is the right place to talk about my experiences or not but I can't find another suitable subforum so... I just finished my first flight and I landed safely. Even though I was involved...

I (obviously) did the tutorial and I have to say those checklists are great! At the same time I had a really hard time following whatever the pilots were doing and I sometimes had no clue where they were and if I had to so something or not. Seems some 'red steps' wore done by the pilots anyway...? I think I will have to do the tutorial one more time at least.

BTW in P3D 2.3 I didn't have a S PARKING 8 RAMP GA LARGE so I parked at PARKING 5 RAMP GA LARGE. No problem, of course.

Another odd thing (all in step 55): I was supposed to scroll down to INN in the flight plan but it wasn't there! Luckily I've flown various addons before (including the original Airbus X) so I simply added the INN point manually in the plan. But if that INN point is indeed missing by default some new pilots may run into problems here. Also the missing step to click on VIAS before you could select VIA may confuse some. And finally I didn't get the option the enter the temporary flightplan...? But all went well nonetheless.

Anyway, it's amazing how quickly you miss a step!!! After take off things didn't go too well until I discovered SPD and HDG were still in manual mode and the AP was off... Yeah, right... After searching the pdf I noticed I simply missed the step to set the HDG... (Haven't found the step yet where to set SPD though: maybe that will happen automatically when you enable the AP?) But well, things like that happen during a first flight. It's quite amazing that I landed safely! Without those checklists that wouldn't have happened.

Although I probably would have crashed in a mountain somewhere if the two pilots hadn't been there to help me, the experience was a bit different from what I've been used to. I didn't really feel like the pilot, more like a passenger who was allowed to sit in the cockpit. I think that pretty quickly I will disable the CP so I can do more myself. However, I have to print the normal procedures too in that case because I have no clue what to turn on or off or whatever LOL Although, come to think of it, if I turn of the CP I suppose the checklist will wait for me to do what is needed, right...? So that way I also will be able to learn what to do.

I loved all the sounds and also the crew and cabin stuff. And I also LOVED the performance!!! I was expecting having to lower my rather extreme high settings but to my amazement all went perfectly fine! Well, things got a bit choppy during landing but not much more than when I am flying the A2A Cherokee. I do have extreme high settings so that's my own choice: the Airbus itself performs wonderfully well!!!

And of course it looks good too. I was btw amazed how good AA was with P3D settings only! I was expecting a lot of shimmering because you are sitting further away from the panel than in for instance the Cherokee but things looked great! (The P3D shadows are awesome!) HDR also works fine (I thought the bloom would be a problem but it isn't).

All in all it was a very pleasant first trip and it's great to finally fly an airliner in P3D! I will do the tutorial once more and then I probably will create my own checklist (like the one I made for the Airbus X) which only shows the steps you HAVE to take and skips all the checking. I like that.

Congrats with this great release! This post 'ging een beetje van de hak op de tak' (don't know the English expression) but I hope you noticed I am very, very happy with this great plane!!!

EDIT

P.S. Just so you know, I couldn't find a single bug and everything worked as advertised (unless I screwed up myself LOL).

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

Thanks for the nice comments. I'll have a look at the step by step guide.

As you have seen it is a very complex document!

[Cheyenne Chief Pilot 829]

(...) I think that pretty quickly I will disable the CP so I can do more myself. However, I have to print the normal procedures too in that case because I have no clue what to turn on or off or whatever LOL Although, come to think of it, if I turn of the CP I suppose the checklist will wait for me to do what is needed, right...? So that way I also will be able to learn what to do.

(...) I will do the tutorial once more and (...)

Checklists 'on' and Copilot 'off' is absolutely correct for the checklist items to wait for your actions, Jeroen.

For a change, you can also fly the tutorial flight published for the "Extended" A320/321. It's freely available here:

http://www.aerosoft2.de/downloads/airbus-extended/Airbus-Extended-Manual-Vol6-StepbyStep-EN.pdf

[tup61 185]

Thanks for the nice comments. I'll have a look at the step by step guide.

As you have seen it is a very complex document!

Very complex indeed, I have great respect for everyone who worked on this...!!!

Checklists 'on' and Copilot 'off' is absolutely correct for the checklist items to wait for your actions, Jeroen.

For a change, you can also fly the tutorial flight published for the "Extended" A320/321. It's freely available here:

http://www.aerosoft2.de/downloads/airbus-extended/Airbus-Extended-Manual-Vol6-StepbyStep-EN.pdf

Good to know about CP off! I will probably do the tutorial flight one more time as it should be done (CP on) because this first flight was a bit hectic, of course, and a second run will enable me to enjoy everything a bit more relaxed and understand more of what's happening, and then I will do it once more with CP off. Giving that other tutorial is try is a good idea, thanks! And after all that I will start using PFPX and 'go my own way'. This is going to be big fun!

[Eric Bakker 736]

Congrats with this great release! This post 'ging een beetje van de hak op de tak' (don't know the English expression) but I hope you noticed I am very, very happy with this great plane!!!

Hi Jeroen,

I think the English expression is 'rambling on'.

You wanted something more complex, but not too difficult, something for a change from your C172 and Cherokee. I think you found it!

Thanks for your nice words, you can hardly imagine how hard and intense the development team and testers have been working on this baby for many many months. They deserve the highest praise!

[tup61 185]

I found it indeed, Eric!

The rest of yesterday's evening I spend reading the tutorial (printed) without missing a single line. Turns out I missed a LOT of lines during my first flight... Even though I thought I had been reading everything pretty closely I for instance totally missed the meaning of the orange in the checklist (starting conditions for checklists)! I also now clearly see everything you have to do actually is in the list: I had the feeling a lot of things were missing but that was due to me flicking through the pages too soon, eager to find out what had to be done next (and next and next) and hence totally losing 'contact' with what the pilots were doing...

It must be quite frustrating for the developers and specially the writers of the Step by step pdf to know that probably most people tend to skip through everything way too fast, missing out important things (and quite often ending up asking questions on this forum...).

My advice to everyone: READ the Step by step pdf, every single word of it, and do not just only use it while doing your first flight: there is a lot to do and to learn and you will surely miss things while you are listening to the pilots, figuring out what knob to turn, which button to press, etc. etc. etc.

EDIT

LOL While reading the Step by step pdf I kept on thinking: I wish I had all those checklists on a few A4's without all that extra information (which is very useful, of course, but mainly during the first flight): that would be handy. I already started thinking about creating it myself (I work with InDesign and pdf's daily). And then I reached chapter 10... LOL Exactly what I was looking for! You guys (and girls?) really thought about everything!

[tup61 185]

Little tip: you might want to add some information to step 56 why RTT has to be entered. Afaik RTT is the main and last point of the SID and you enter it only in case you have to manually take over and fly towards it... right...? (I could be wrong...) Anyway, newbies might be confused by this and not know why they have to do this and how they have to figure out themselves what to enter there on their own flights.

[The Dude 6537]

It is just meant as a backup to confirm there is no Map shift (not modeled in the sim). You do not need it, also when flying manually you just follow the FD or fly yourself towards the RTT WP on the ND.

But yes, maybe an extra note in the guide would be a good idea. I will pass it on.

[D192 83]

I discovered SPD and HDG were still in manual mode and the AP was off... Yeah, right... After searching the pdf I noticed I simply missed the step to set the HDG... (Haven't found the step yet where to set SPD though: maybe that will happen automatically when you enable the AP?)

If you're flying a SID (or any departure where you will leave the runway in NAV mode rather than HDG), you should press the Speed, Heading, and Altitude knobs, prior to take-off. This will set them all the MANAGED modes, so speed will be as per FMGC, Heading will be Managed (eg. NAV), and Climb mode will be Managed (Eg. VNAV).

Alternatively if you are taking off in Heading mode (as some departure procedures will dictate), you should still press the Speed knob before take, off, but you should PULL the heading knob (to get selected heading).

Note: When in Heading mode, you cannot have Managed Climb mode, (a little like saying, when you are not in LNAV you cannot have VNAV), so when you are taking off in HDG mode and you pull the thrust levers back to CLIMB power, you will get OPEN CLIMB (which is the same as FLCH in a Boeing).

Cheers.

[Hanse 216]

Hi Jeroen,

I am the main author (with a lot of input from others) of this tutorial and first I would like to thank you for your "warm" words. I always appreciate proposal / recommendations because we want to deliver an excellent product. Some comments from my side on what you previously wrote:

Parking LOWI: My mistake because I use "Approaching Innsbruck" from Aerosoft as addon scenery...... will be corrected in the next revision

Flight Plan - missing INN: Also my mistake - maybe be based on a last minute change of NavDataPro database to cycle 1410.... will also be corrected in the next revision

SPD - HDG: This is explained in #70 but maybe not detailed enough - just push the SPD and HDG button that the displays show “---●” .....in the next revision I will add a comment on this item what it means and what the user has to do......

Checklist - Copilot: The function of both is explained in chapter 4.6.3 of the tutorial. They can be used independently

• If only “Checklist” is chosen then the duties of the copilot have to be handled manually by the user. In this case the Copilot just reads the checklist items and waits until the correct settings are made - before passing on to the next item. If settings are not made or are not correct the item is constantly repeated. An item can also be skipped by using the SKIP ITEM function (see chapter 4.8).
• If the combination is chosen then the “Copilot” works timely aligned with the checklist i.e. performs his duties when the task should be done according to the checklist. Only certain items have to be handled manually by the user (in the checklist marked in “red”).

ADF - RTT: I will add a specific remark on this subject to the next revision of the tutorial...

Regards,

Rolf

[tup61 185]

Thanks for the information, David! Good to know about that HDG mode take off! (BTW You might want to change your sig to 'Voice Artist on the released Aerosoft Airbus X A318/A319' )

And thanks for your reply and explanation, Rolf! Very nice to see the developers etc. actively responding and listening!

I now see where I went wrong with step #70. Due to my eagerness to proceed with the next step I totally missed that '1 to 4' in that line and somehow thought that DASH-BALL etc. only had to do with the ALT. My bad... Tonight I will fly the entire flight once more with the pdf printed on my lap and this time I will read and check every single line! As I should have done the first time...

[AdrianoN 75]

This airbus is perfect. I tested it with my friend. I use DX10 fix, since I saw a video made by Hanse on youtube. The frame rate even with shadows, is amazing. Are you guys using something new in terms of frame rate? Now I have an amazing frame rate. Thank you Mathiks and Hanse!!!!

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

This airbus is perfect. I tested it with my friend. I use DX10 fix, since I saw a video made by Hanse on youtube. The frame rate even with shadows, is amazing. Are you guys using something new in terms of frame rate? Now I have an amazing frame rate. Thank you Mathiks and Hanse!!!!

Nothing special, just real careful with everything we inserted!

[tup61 185]

I am doing my second flight right now and this time with full understanding of how the Stepbystep.pdf works LOL. If I find some more little errors, I will post them here for you to check!

TAKE NOTE: some of this will be real nitpicking, but well, while I am at it...

Page 22: screenshot shows Planned FL 320, should be 310.

Page 39: (already mentioned this but maybe Rolf missed it ) After select STAR the next step should be - Select VIAS. After that, on the next screen, you can select NERAS.

Page 39: (as I said: nitpicking... but it might confuse newbies) at this stage the following lines aren't in the plan yet: 4 (LIM), 10 (T/C), 20 (T/D), 25 (INTCPT), 30 (DECEL).

The following things are from the checklist so I will only type the number.

NO. 17: LSK1L should be LSK3L

NO. 53: remark: 40 should be 30

NO. 63 and NO. 64: in between there should be PERF-DES (it's missing)

NO. 84 and NO. 85: these two items aren't mentioned (in audio) so maybe they shouldn't be green...? I had the idea all green lines were called out...?

NO. 95 and NO. 96: should be positioned directly after 88

NO. 102: isn't needed so STOP (SHIFT + P) probably shouldn't be there in red (or at all)

NO. 126: SET to 1 should be SET to 2

NO. 140: CHECK should be black, not red

NO. 159: START should be black, not red

NO. 197: says SET in red but that's already done in NO. 177...?

NO. 200: FAM should be FMA

NO. 214, NO. 215 and NO. 216 aren't called out and only checked: do they have to be green and yellow?

BTW It's not really clear (from the checklist itself) you have to actually set the MCDU > APPR options. If you are only using the checklists in chapter 10 and don't read the information on page 51, you can get into problems later on during approach and landing because it seems things are only checked by the CP while you have to enter things like Trans alt (which btw isn't mentioned at all here), QNH, etc. Maybe those things should be added in red so the pilot knows he has to enter them?

Another slightly confusing something: the checklist system seems to immediately tell the pilot he has to initiate the descent after the Descent Preperation: that's way too early...?! Shouldn't that message only pop up just before T/D? Maybe the orange line (209) should say something like 'Will start automatically 10 nm before T/D' and not '1 min after CRZ level has been reached' because that's sounds a bit too soon to me.

NO. 217: maybe add a remark 2.500 has to be set before T/D...?

NO. 218: it's a mystery what this line means...?

NO. 226: isn't called out (but I suppose by now that like the previous items that aren't called out, that's no problem...)

NO. 227: remark says 5000... bit too late there... See my BTW above.

NO. 258: the remark made me think I had to do this myself because it's partially red...

NO. 266: 139 should be 123

NO. 267: CHECK TA ONLY so I supposed it should be at TA ONLY but it was as TA/RA still

NO. 278: after this one the pilot said something about the landing memo and it was checked: this item seems to be missing in the list

NO. 282: maybe add a remark this has to be done when you hear RETARD RETARD when passing 20 ft...?

NO. 294 and NO. 298 aren't called but again, apparently that's how it is supposed to be

NO. 310: maybe should be orange because I kept on waiting and waiting until the Parking checklist started. After a while I set the parking brakes on and turned the engines off and that triggered the checklist. Only later on I noticed the remark section told me the engines off triggered the checklist but I was looking for orange...

Finally I noticed that during shutdown and securing the radio's aren't turned off. Also TCAS seemed to be where I left it and at BLW. Nothing important but the state you leave the plane in is not 100% like the cold and dark state you load.

Well, that was it! Hope no one minds me posting all this here: I am just trying to help so don't take this as anything else! Also my remarks that aren't about actual errors are only posted to help and as suggestions. Feel free of course to completely ignore everything I said.

And btw... it was an AWESOME FLIGHT once more!!!

EDIT

One little question about NO. 124: can I check on one of the screens what I am setting the pitch trim too? I can of course look at the numbers beside the wheel but I suppose one of the screens (ECAM?) should also be showing the number I've set? That would be more precise.

EDIT 2

Sorry to bother everyone again but I forgot something: I was completely confused around line 242. I had no clue at all when to start the APPR PHASE. I waited for the FINAL checklist to begin, which should happen as the APPR CL had been finished but it didn't seem to happen... Should I ALWAYS enable APPR PHASE at 7200 feet? Or at the D (Decel) point? The checklist wasn't clear on this. So I waited for the promised INFOBAR message (page 58) but it didn't come so in the end APPR PHASE was started automatically when LOC came alive (which btw happened at the same time as the GS which made me think if I needed to turn on LOC yes or no or start APPR right away.... slightly confusing... ). All in all no big problems because I landed safely but well, I was a bit unsure. Maybe the checklist could get a remark saying when exactly to enable APPR PHASE (and for the newbies also where to do it).

[Hanse 216]

Hi Jeroen,

thanks for the comments and I will have a detailed look in it tomorrow....... now I prefer a glass of wine!

I am not the specialist on everything so maybe somebody else will comment on EDIT1 or just put a new thread into the right section of this forum - if this "gets lost" as a part of this very long post.......

EDIT 2: I will have a look into this matter. But just a short tip. If you go to the MCDU 2 and Checklist you can scroll (using the buttons with the arrow showing left and right) to the various checklist. You also will see the APPROACH CL: App. 10 NM before the DECEL WPT it gets active e.g. "orange" and shows the distance when it will automatically start. From that moment on (= orange) you can start it manually pushing the respective LSK. Shortly after it has finished manually initiate the APPR PHASE.....

Regards,

Rolf

[tup61 185]

Thanks for the tip, Rolf. I hope you don't mind me posting every little thing I found....... As I said, feel free to ignore whatever you want to ignore. Enjoy your wine!

[Cheyenne Chief Pilot 829]

Don't worry, Jeroen; just keep them coming! (And thanks for your efforts!)

For the trim setting, you can enable the flightcontrols page (F/CTL) on the Systems Display (SD = lower ECAM): Trim readout is displayed there as well.

For the LOC/APP buttons, it's pretty much at the pilots' discretion: Usually they are pushed when the ILS signal is reliable enough, so when closer to the runway threshold. At those distances a single button push (APP) makes more sense.

In the sim, the ILS is always reliable, and the LOC signal is received a good deal earlier than the G/S signal. So pressing LOC first, and APP later might be more intuitive in the sim, but at the same time the very early LOC button push could be considered rather a "sim-inism".

BTW, in the step-by-step guide it will be changed to APP button push only, as our experiences with that approach concur with yours.

Activating approach phase, and the following extension of slats and flaps are a pretty cool way to control managed speed: By activating the APPR phase, speed changes from 250 kts (or the speed limit in a speed constraint) to the minimum clean speed ("green dot"). With every notch of flaps lowered the bus decelerates more and more until finally hitting Vapp (with flaps full).

So as a rule of thumb, just use the activation of APPR phase (and the following flaps extensions) as a means of slowing down towards a speed you think is more appropriate for your ongoing approach and the upcoming turns and LOC intercepts associated with it.

Also, a chart like this one might help:

http://www.smartcockpit.com/aircraft-ressources/Airbus_A320-ILS_Approach_Landing.html

[tup61 185]

Thanks for the info, Oliver! I just knew there had to be a page on the ECAM showing the trim but I couldn't find it.

So you can skip LOC altogether. Good to know. I've heard various opinions about that in the past and I remember with other planes I have flown it could lead to problems (like not being able to use two AP for an autoland) but if it works in the bus, it's fine with me! So I think I will use APP only when I am on the intercept course for the ILS and skip LOC altogether.

I think I will simply make a habit of turning on APPR PHASE around 7200 feet, no matter what: I now remember doing this in another plane (few years ago): some things are slowly getting back to me... (Very slowly because I am getting older...)

I am very excited about this Airbus... I am at work right now (yeah...) but I can't wait to get back home and fly my first selfmade PFPX flight!!! In my openings post I said I had a hard time following what the pilots were doing but it's perfectly clear now this was my fault completely: it's great being able to follow each and every step and I also see now this list is also perfect for when I won't use the CP: you just simply have to do everything that's in yellow too. I have to add though that I am beginning to like that CP so I think I will keep her enabled for the time being...

[Hanse 216]

Hi Jeroen,

if you are fed up with her (CP) anymore - please do not "divorce" her completely. There are more options ...... female as well as male CPs with differenct accents in the Configurator........

Regards,

Rolf

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

As Rolf wrote, just take your pick!

[tup61 185]

Just finished my first self made PFPX flight: a short hop from ENGM to ENBR with the A318 with real time weather. Everything went perfectly fine!!! And I have to say... I am really beginning to appreciate the CP more and more! I think I will leave her on for quite some time! (Doing everything yourself is a LOT of work!) Thanks to doing the tutorial (stepbystep) flight twice AND reading that pdf from A to Z, this third flight was a breeze! I had no problems at ALL (like with when to select APPR PHASE and things like that). Only thing I had to do was use the speed brake during descent because I was a bit high. That probably happened because I wanted to see if the AP would start the descent automatically or not (I had set the alt to 2500 before T/D) but you clearly have to do this yourself. This time I did use LOC simply because LOC was live sooner that GS and I didn't wait for a G/S live call (I doubt there is one). Anyway, everything went perfectly fine and it was pure joy once more!

BTW PFPX is very easy to use (no more worrying about what SID and STAR to use). Great program. But I really need a more specific profile because ZFW seemed totally off. But I will post about that in another (new) topic. I just wanted to post here that my first 'own' flight was awesome!

[magnum37 0]

Just landed after an IFR KBOS-CYUL...One of my best landings ever and this ride was totally a bullseye. Wow! What a wonderful addon plane the new 318/319 is! Everything seems to be working more than fine and the performance is great. Absolutely no laggs even I used heavy loaded airport sceneries on both ends of my flight. The 319 performs extremely well - very pleased! The sounds are awesome, more realistic and now without the little too high "airbus engine howling" the Extended version had. Now its better for the ears. Even the crew talk sounds are more realistic now. Also a thanks for the added wingviews too. For the previous version I had to add them myself into the aircraft.cfg so thanks for taking care of it for us in advance this time.

[Cheyenne Chief Pilot 829]

(...) Only thing I had to do was use the speed brake during descent because I was a bit high. That probably happened because I wanted to see if the AP would start the descent automatically or not (I had set the alt to 2500 before T/D) but you clearly have to do this yourself. This time I did use LOC simply because LOC was live sooner that GS and I didn't wait for a G/S live call (I doubt there is one). Anyway, everything went perfectly fine and it was pure joy once more!

(...)

Use of speedbrakes is pretty much "SOP" with highly efficient wings (even more so with unexpected tailwinds ).

For the LOC/APP thingy, today I was reminded of the LOC26 approach into LOWI: In the sim at least, the LOC becomes alive before the G/S signal isn't even received so ... there you have it; it's quite a situational decision.

[Eric Bakker 736]

TAKE NOTE: some of this will be real nitpicking, but well, while I am at it...

Thanks for the nice comments. I'll have a look at the step by step guide.

As you have seen it is a very complex document!

Ah, one of my hobbies too, nitpicking.

Mathijs, in Vol 1 the introduction contains reference to Vol 10.

However, it seems that vol 10 now is renamed Vol 8 (partially).

[tup61 185]

Just finished my first flight with a printed out PFPX OFP: that was fun! I frequently checked the times and FOB and things like that and it really adds to the immersion. I edited the profile a little and everything seemed to be spot on when it came to timing and FOB which is great. I think I will post my profile in the relevant topic elsewhere on this forum.

It was another great flight, a bit longer but still rather short, and I am already looking forward to the next one!!!

P.S. Initial post here is deleted and information has been PM'ed to the one whom it concerns.