A320 Manual Flying Help!

[a320sim]

Hello everyone,

I am doing my type rating and it's my first experience in a jet aircraft.

I just started a few weeks ago and I am having a trouble with manual flying without AP and without ATHR.

Recently the instructor asked me to do a hold without AP and A/THR and I was having a hard time keeping the holding speed and altitude and whilst turning I lost a lot the speed and then I would apply some power and then I would overspeed it was basically a mess and he told me he has never seen someone flying so poorly before.

It was my third type rating session and I am worried I am not doing so well at the moment any tips for this? How can I get better at manual flying without having access to a simulator to practice on?

Are there any specific numbers for N1 or something and any certain bank angle I should follow?

I was trying to follow the speed trend arrow but I feel it's not reactive enough ? Maybe I am over controlling the side stick? I have no idea

[tubby linton]

Look in the QRH for the unreliable airspeed checklist, it will have pitch and power settings for various speeds and configs. Speed decay in turns can be countered by adding a few percent N1 as you start to roll into the turn. It sounds as though you are over controlling. Smoothly roll on 25 degrees of bank, but imagine you are trying not to spill a drop of your passengers G&Ts not emulating the roll rate of a fighter.
If you fly smoothly you shouldn’t see the arrow.

[fantom]

Do not stir the stick; leave it alone.

[a320sim]

So in normal law do you just push the stick to the right and hold it there till you get the correct attitude and release? How does it work?

What about Alternate and direct then?

It's confusing because different instructors say different things

[Captain Spam Can]

The first and biggest problem is the instructor. Sounds like he is damaging your confidence, not building it up. Making you fly a raw data hold when your struggling is ridiculous, what he should be doing is getting you to do a flight director off take off, a few climbing and descending turns onto headings to settle and a few circuits to practice final approach technique. Flying a raw data hold will only max out your NAVIGATE, when you should be AVIATING first. I would put money on the first thing your instructor will ask for, say during a dual FMGC failure is radar headings! And there's a reason for that. As the other good contributes added don't over control, if you find you are then let go. Set the power and leave it, and if turning add a little it's a plane after all. Someone once said to me 'hold the sidestick as tight as you would grasp a Bulldogs .

[Shaman]

Keep an eye on the speed trend arrow. If it is pointing towards your foot then you are about to lose speed. Apply a couple of extra percentage power, see what happens to the speed trend arrow and if it is still pointing downwards add another couple of %.

Try not to over react by adding or subtracting handfuls of power - just a couple of % each time but keeping scanning attitude, speed and the speed trend arrow.

Don't worry - we have all been there! If you keep scanning it will all come right.

[flyboyike]

I'm trying to think why he's having do a raw data hold in the first place. It has never been a part of any type rating training I went through.

[learner001]

he told me he has never seen someone flying so poorly before.

It was my third type rating session

Sorry to hear you are in such an awkward position:

Your school/instructor should realize that you are there to 'learn' to fly the Airbus and that they should be there to 'teach' you to fly the Airbus.


As 'they' apparently don't intend to teach, ask your instructor to forget the 'holding' and that he just let you fly around for a while on your own.

Try to fly level and accelerate/decelerate to and then maintain two or three different speeds.

Then try to turn to a couple of headings.

Remember:
- As long as 'the bird' is ON the horizon you will neither climb nor descend.
- If there is NO 'yellow speed trend vector' you will neither accelerate nor decelerate.

After that, try some climbs and descends to a few altitudes. (Just three or five thousand feet higher or lower...)

This will all not go 'super', but at least you may be learning a few things . . .

[a320sim]

Captain Spam Can

Thanks for your reply! The syllabus in our training program is all over the place, we had a few computer failures and so we lost AP and ATHR so I had to do a hold till the other pilot does the calculations for landing in the third session.

I have a question do you hold the side stick till you get the required input or do you just keep giving small corrections till you get there? like put it up and leave and put it up and leave? Honestly different instructors say different things I am confused.

Yes I do over control and I find that on approach if I leave it after ILS stabalization it maintains 600 fpm to 700 fpm and I just flare at 30 ft which makes a good landing so far but it's hard to keep level for me in a hold etc. by keeping manual thrust and manual flying.

[a320sim]

learner001

Haha I'd get kicked out if I don't do what they ask , organized airline program

Yeah I learnt that the bird helps a lot

I think I tend to over control a lot and when applying power I apply a lot like 10 % more because the thrust levers are so hard to push and I am not used to it at all , mind you I don't have jet experience at all.

Apparently they think that they're just there to judge you and your flying capability instead of sitting there and showing you how to apply deflection and thrust and then grade you low for being poor , hope it comes to me in a while atleast.

Do you tend to push the side stick up till you get the result you want or do you just apply a small correction and then bring the joystick to neutral how does it go? I am still confused on that basic

[flyboyike]

What I learned when I came to the 320 (after six years in other jets) is that the whole key to hand-flying an Airbus is "less is more". So, whatever input you were planning to do with the sidestick, reduce it by half. Make small corrections using your wrist, not your whole arm. Don't give it any more muscle than you would a computer mouse.

Same with the thrust levers. Move them a little at a time, don't give or take thrust by the handful. You'll get the hang of it.

[Dracarys]

Originally Posted by a320sim

Do you tend to push the side stick up till you get the result you want or do you just apply a small correction and then bring the joystick to neutral how does it go? I am still confused on that basic

Did your school not give you a copy of the A320 FCOM?

In Flight Mode with Normal Law the roll rate is proportional to the sidestick deflection. When you have achieved the roll attitude you want, return the sidestick to neutral and the aircraft will maintain that roll attitude (up to 33 degrees of roll). If you roll the aircraft beyond 33 degrees of roll and release the sidestick to neutral, the aircraft will return to 33 degrees of roll attitude and maintain it. There is no requirement to trim or use any rudder or elevator input to co-ordinate your turns, just use lateral sidestick input.

[Fursty Ferret]

Check your armrest position. Seems a simple thing, but IMHO it's the key to smooth flying on the Airbus.

1. Your whole forearm needs to be supported - straight line from elbow to middle of sidestick. Make sure your wrist isn't tilted up or down as you hold the stick. Get this wrong and it's really hard to fly smoothly, and you're at risk of making inadvertent pitch inputs during turns, and vice-versa.

2. Gentle grip. I fly with three fingers, and usually use just two fingers for gentle manoeuvres. It's an incredibly responsive aircraft - small, smooth, input, wait until you get what you want, and release.

3. In normal or alternate law, no backpressure is required in level turns (up to 33 degrees). If you're doing this instinctively, it might be why you're struggling. If you're not doing it deliberately (see "1") then it's *definitely* the reason.

Enjoy. Even if you just fly level turns for 10 minutes in your next sim, you'll see that it's a rewarding aircraft to hand-fly.