Question about autobrakes

[a320maxi 39]

Hello,

I just want to ask a question concerning the autobrakes of Aerosoft's Airbus series.

When I land with autobrakes MED armed, after touchdown I try to de-rotate smoothly, which is not a problem for the two seconds after touching down, but when the brakes kick in abruptly, the nose wheel just smashes onto the ground. Is this really as it should be? I know the autobrakes, when on MED, activate 2 seconds after touchdown, when on LO, after 4 seconds. Isn't there any transition in braking force to give the pilot time to react to the pitch down effect when the brakes activate? I don't see A320s smashing their nose wheels onto the ground that often.

I don't think it's something about my landing skills either. My landings are in the 50-200 ft/min area, I never reach more than about 5 degrees pitch up during the flare, I try to de-rotate smoothly but not too slowly. I have observed one thing, out of curiosity I tried to land with brake fans on and the result was a smoother braking force transition.

Another question would be: Is there any way to adjust the time which the brakes take to reach the acquired braking force in any of the .xml (or other) files?

Regards

[The Dude 6537]

In RL you do not slowly de-rotate. When do you deploy your thrustreversers?

Why not use AB LOW or manual braking instead of trying to tweak some .xml file?

[a320maxi 39]

So how do you derotate then? You have to give the stick some aft pressure at a certain point to avoid a hard nose wheel touchdown, or am I wrong? Correct me if I am.

Usually I activate the thrust reversers when the nose wheel is already just a little above the ground.

I use AB MED, because LO is a bit too weak for most of the airports I fly to. I either don't use manual brakes that often, since (I suppose) it's not used that often irl as well. Again, correct me if I am wrong.

[The Dude 6537]

The whole de-rotating should be swift but ofcourse you should not slam the nosegear into the ground. I never had a problem with that aspect of the landing. Holding a little backstick is required. You may only deploy the thrust reversers when the nosewheel is on the ground.

The use of the AB is up to the pilot. I would say that 40% are manual brake landings. Another 40% where the AB is kicked out by the pilot above 100kts. And some 20% where you leave the AB operating till 20-30kts.

The AB is only there to help the pilot. If it does not do what you expect from it then just disconnect it. I always see the AB as a luxery, the CRJ does not have one for example.

Btw, the LOW setting is being tuned by Airbus at the moment to give it a bit more bite. The best AB setting would be something between MED and LOW in RL.

[a320maxi 39]

The whole de-rotating should be swift but ofcourse you should not slam the nosegear into the ground. I never had a problem with that aspect of the landing. Holding a little backstick is required. You may only deploy the thrust reversers when the nosewheel is on the ground.

The use of the AB is up to the pilot. I would say that 40% are manual brake landings. Another 40% where the AB is kicked out by the pilot above 100kts. And some 20% where you leave the AB operating till 20-30kts.

The AB is only there to help the pilot. If it does not do what you expect from it then just disconnect it. I always see the AB as a luxery, the CRJ does not have one for example.

Btw, the LOW setting is being tuned by Airbus at the moment to give it a bit more bite. The best AB setting would be something between MED and LOW in RL.

OK, thank you very much for the detailed response. I just thought deploying the thrust reversers was allowed with only MLG on the ground as well, since most of times you see A319/20/21 landings, they are deployed already even with the nose wheel still in the air. But that's not a landing by the manual then, as you say.

I'm going to check the Aerosoft one once again however, because for me not even a full deflection can slow down the fast pitch down caused by the AB, don't know if I am the only one with this problem.

[a320maxi 39]

OK, thank you very much for the detailed response. I just thought deploying the thrust reversers was allowed with only MLG on the ground as well, since most of times you see A319/20/21 landings, they are deployed already even with the nose wheel still in the air. But that's not a landing by the manual then, as you say.

I'm going to check the Aerosoft one once again however, because for me not even a full deflection can slow down the fast pitch down caused by the AB, don't know if I am the only one with this problem.

I just found out it was the FSX FPS limiter causing the brakes hitting so hard and thereby making a swift but not too harsh derotation impossible. I had my FPS locked at 24, now, since I set it to unlimited the brakes don't kick in so abruptly and give more time to react to the pitch down effect. Now everything runs really smooth.