145qrh:
Here is the reference for the wind question from the FMGC guide (4.04.20 p6) (sorry about the lousy formatting)
The crew will modify the entered winds and temperatures in flight if a significant difference is expected
(greater than 30 kt or 30
° for the wind data and greater than 5° for the temperature).
The system propagates the pilot (or ACARS) wind and temperature entries downpath, until a waypoint
for which a different temperature or wind has been entered for the same flight level, or until the last
cruise waypoint.
The forecast winds at a waypoint is determined as follows :
–
If the predicted altitude at the waypoint matches an altitude defined in the CRZ WIND page, the
forecast wind is the corresponding entered or propagated wind displayed at that waypoint on the
CRZ WIND page.
–
If the predicted altitude lies between two altitudes entered on the CRZ WIND page, the wind
direction and velocity are linearly interpolated.
–
If the predicted altitude is above or below the set of cruise altitudes, the forecast wind is a constant
value extrapolated from the entered or propagated wind at the highest (or lowest) altitude displayed
on the CRZ WIND page for that point.
My own company SOP's have the crew only entering the wind for the first cruise level (ie 320) and entering the subsequent waypoint wind at the same altitude for the entire flight. Meaning as you progress downroute entering winds you read the winds for, say, 370, but you enter those winds at 320 because that wind will be extrapolated up. You are right in this case by saying the optimum altitude on the PROG page will be inaccurate. The FMGC looks at all the winds at every entered altitude in its optimum altitude calculations and we are denying it that information by entering the winds this way. The counter argument is that the CFP is more accurate anyway and we should fly the altitudes in the flight plan. I don't necessarily agree with that for a number of reasons but there you go.
Sing330
1. You have it right. Cancel the CRC once by pushing the Master Warning, and then check for the rest of the indications for each engine.
2. I wouldn't say it's correct or incorrect to not enter the winds at 350 in this case. Any information fed into the FMGC that is more accurate will increase the accuracy of the predictions...but you don' t have to enter the winds at 350. The system will interpolate them for you between the 330 and 370 winds you have already entered. In many cases your computerized flight plans don't give you the forecast winds at your cleared altitude and you will have to rely on interpolated (or extrapolated) winds calculated by the FMGC. No problem with that at all.
3. Any trip wind entered in the INIT page is disregarded as soon as a specific CLB, CRZ or DES wind is entered. I don't have a specific reference but it makes sense to me that the cruise temp entered in either the INIT pag or FUEL PRED page is treated the same way. Any waypoint specific temperature should null the trip cruise temp. But I could be wrong.