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A321 Professional will not climb


rowcoach

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Good afternoon,

 

I took off a little over 30 minutes ago from KPDX on my way to Kona. Loaded very few passengers and lots of fuel. Was able to take off with no issues, but I am struggling to get above 26,000 feet. Cruise altitude is set for FL360, but I’m having my doubts it’ll make it that high. I’m performing small step climbs, but I lose about 20 knots of speed as soon as I go above a climb of 200 feet per minute. 

 

I haven’t noticed this with the A320, so I’m not sure what the cause of it is. I did notice contrails immediately after take off, which is odd. 

 

Looking at the EPR gage, it’s showing 1.547 with an N1 of 78.7%. GW is 67,000 kg with 14860 kg of fuel on board. Active sky is turned off, so headwinds aren’t an issue. When I level off in between steps, the EPR gave does not drop. 

 

Any ideas why I can’t climb? If it is a weight issue, I figured I’d be able to climb better as I burned for fuel, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. 

 

Thank you,

 

Colin

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52 minutes ago, rowcoach said:

Good afternoon,

 

I took off a little over 30 minutes ago from KPDX on my way to Kona. Loaded very few passengers and lots of fuel. Was able to take off with no issues, but I am struggling to get above 26,000 feet. Cruise altitude is set for FL360, but I’m having my doubts it’ll make it that high. I’m performing small step climbs, but I lose about 20 knots of speed as soon as I go above a climb of 200 feet per minute. 

 

I haven’t noticed this with the A320, so I’m not sure what the cause of it is. I did notice contrails immediately after take off, which is odd. 

 

Looking at the EPR gage, it’s showing 1.547 with an N1 of 78.7%. GW is 67,000 kg with 14860 kg of fuel on board. Active sky is turned off, so headwinds aren’t an issue. When I level off in between steps, the EPR gave does not drop. 

 

Any ideas why I can’t climb? If it is a weight issue, I figured I’d be able to climb better as I burned for fuel, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. 

 

Thank you,

 

Colin

 

 

Hello Colin,

 

Any chance you could tell us what your PAX, Cargo and Fuel Loadout actually was?   Did you use the Fuel Planner and check that none of the weights were in the Red?

 

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Hey Dave,

 

Great to hear from you. Used the fuel planner. All the values were green - but just:

48 passengers, 1214 kg of cargo, 19,133 kg of fuel. 

ZFW: 52,102 kg

TOW: 70,691 kg

Taxi Weight: 71,235 kg

Landing Weight: 57, 279 kg

 

Finally made it up to FL360. I’m maxed out at .726 (Moved CI to 5, but still way off of that mark). EPR is 1.627. 

 

My guess is that KPDX to PHKO is just on the outside of the A321’s envelope. 48 passengers would not be economical for any airline. 

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

 

 

 

 

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Well, Cost Index was my next was question. A CI of 5 for that heavy a load will do exactly what you experienced. There are numerous factors that are considered real world, but in the end that flight would need a higher CI. Depending on the speed you wanted, I would fly that at a CI of 30 or more likely 35.

 

I'm sure thats it.

 

Best wishes.

 

 

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Hey Dave,

 

I think I assumed that the lower the value, the more economical it was. As I was setting up the MCDU, I originally set the CI at 36. Anyway, I’ve changed it back to 35 and we’ll see how it goes. 

 

Any idea why I was getting the vapour trail from the engines at sea level? It’s almost like the sim thought I was taking off at a much, much higher altitude than I was. 

 

As always, thanks for the help. 

 

Colin

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33 minutes ago, rowcoach said:

Hey Dave,

 

I think I assumed that the lower the value, the more economical it was. As I was setting up the MCDU, I originally set the CI at 36. Anyway, I’ve changed it back to 35 and we’ll see how it goes. 

 

Any idea why I was getting the vapour trail from the engines at sea level? It’s almost like the sim thought I was taking off at a much, much higher altitude than I was. 

 

As always, thanks for the help. 

 

Colin

 

Could be a lot of things, maybe lack of the weather engine.

 

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