a320 single engine visual circuit - overweight question.
Hi everyone,
I am in my type rating course and encountered a situation with single-engine visual circuits that I can't seem to understand.
We were practicing overweight landings after an engine failure. The QRH overweight procedure says to use CONF FULL unless limited by performance or an ABN procedure, so I planned for a CONF FULL landing. The scenario was an engine failure during a go-around, requiring an immediate visual circuit at 71 tonnes and an 8,000 ft airport elevation.
I started the visual circuit with CONF 1, just as the FCOM states, then selecting CONF 2 abeam the threshold and only continued configuring with the gear down once we were already descending from 1,500 ft on the base turn. This was based on the "ONE ENGINE INOPERATIVE - STRAIGHT IN APPROACH" logic, which says to "Delay CONF FULL until established in the descent," ensuring I wasn't flying level in a high-drag state like CONF 3 + gear down.
However, my instructor told me I should have followed the "ONE ENGINE INOPERATIVE - CIRCLING APPROACH" procedure. He explained that because our weight (71T) was above the 67-tonne limit to fly in CONF 3 + gear down, the circling procedure would mandate using CONF 3 as the final configuration. This is what doesn't make sense to me. On a visual circuit, there is never a case where one would fly CONF 3 + L/G down in level flight. We only lower the gear and complete landing configuration during the final descent.
I'm having trouble connecting the logic of the circling approach procedure to the maneuver we actually flew. Could anyone help clarify why the circling procedure and its weight limits would be the correct reference in this situation? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.