Raw Data approaches A320
 

Hello everyone,

May I please request A320 fliers to help me in my Raw Data approaches.

Any tips/ball-park figures/pointers for me to maintain thrust setting, FPV, etc.

I really want to work on them.

Thanks

2.5 degree pitch config full

4.5 degree pitch config 3

N1 roughly landing weight minus 10 as a starting point in config full or minus 20 config 3.

Bird on, FDs off.

VS ground speed / 2 + 50 (140/2 + 50 = 750 fpm)

Fly it like a Cessna.

Thank you @The Green Goblin

Select ils i/b course on the FCU Track Selector

Once on the LLZ, position the 'bird' directly below the blue vertical track index.
Once on the GP, place the bird on -3 degrees.
Scan!

Suggest flying it like a jet transport, not a Cessna.

Halve any corrections below 1000ft agl. If you are flying this because of a double FCU failure ask the pnf to fly the speed and also vocalise any tracking deviations.
Keep the track diamond in your scan as well

Thank you
@mcdhu
@stilton
@tubby linton

Is there any PC software recommended for practicing raw data ILS?

Why not do it on the line on a nice day? Most of my colleagues and I try to do 1 every week or two in nice weather.

TW

Best advice I had was put the track line over the runway threshold on the NAV display, stay within the heading bug for roll corrections and keep the vertical speed around 700. Hope that helps.

The original poster asked about a 'raw data' ILS

To me that means fly the correct attitude on the correct heading, with the correct power/thrust to keep the needles on the localiser and glideslope and the aeroplane at the correct speed.

Why are people making it complicated and certainly not 'raw data' flying?

Anything to do with any Airbus with FBW gets complicated for even the simplest questions bingofuel.

To answer the OP:
1. A/P off, A/T off, F/Ds off, bird on.
2. ND to ILS for very accurate tracking. The drift diamond on it is prominent and you can observe even the slightest movement of the needles. Much better to observe than that on the PFD.
3. Power settings and all that as per The Green Goblin's advice.

Also set your seat a tad higher using flap 3 when landing so you don't instinctively nose down for a Flap full perspective when you become visual assuming you usually use Flap full.

I just line the green track diamond up with the ILS course marker on the PFD, go for 800 FPM at the start of the descent and fine tune from there. I rarely fly with the bird these days unless NPA requires it. You do get some IR drift but once you've figured it out you just target 1-2 degrees left/right of the marker.

Flap 2 is less of an issue when flying manually as you can stuff the nose down yourself, flap full tends to catch people out more.

For thrust, go for the gross weight + 5 ballpark figure then rely on the speed trend arrow. Worth a glance at the N1 setting from time to time to make sure they're balanced.

Aubus Raw ILS APP
 

This (aubus raw ILS) is the only PC software I have found to practise flying a Raw Data ILS with the Flt Path Vector (the BIRD). Don't bother. It is useless. I downloaded it from the IOS app store to my iPad. You have to fly it with a toggle switch which is not sensitive enough to accurately fly the ILS. Luckily, I was able to get a refund of USD7.99 from Apple. Fortunately, I work for Airbus as SFI and will be able to practise in the FFS before my own LPC. I suggest for all operating pilots that yout practise Raw Data ILS's whenever you are in Visual/Low traffic situations. I know that airlines don't like pilots to manually fly this type of approach. But you know that your flying skills have suffered as a result of this policy!!!

Some years ago, I found the ultimate solution for Airbus Raw Data Flying. However, you need to be a little computer savvy. It's MS Flight Sim 2004 with the Wilco Publishing/FeelThere A320 add on. However, you need to be running Windows XP on a 10 year old PC with a good graphics card from that time (to avoid incompatibility issues). The good thing is you can pick up a PC like that for under £200 noawadays. Looked something like this (this guy hasn't turned on the bird).


There's also a completely self contained software called FlightDeck A32x that will run on a modern PC but you need a good spec (£800+):

Hi, can you elaborate on what do you mean by staying within the heading bug for roll correction? Is this below 1000ft? Also does it mean that the roll correction should be within the small inverted bug triangle?

How to place the track line over the runway threshold? Don't we select the ILS track using the track/hdg knob?

Hi Captain, above 1000’ you can afford bigger and more effective corrections, below 1000’ you reduce the scope of corrections to avoid destabilising the approach. A good rule of thumb is, one you’ve set your blue bug with ILS inbound track, to correct maintaining the blue line within the span of the bird’s wing when above 1000’, but to limit corrections to the circle (body) of the bird for corrections below 1000’.
So for example if you are left of the localiser at 800’, turn right maintaining the blue bug within the body of the bird and then wait, while scanning the LOC coming in.

for the second bit you use the ND in nav, since the published rwy track inbound doesn't always work in real life (magnetic differences, IRS drift etc). When the projection of the Green line on your ND (corresponding to your actual track) is aligned with the rwy and LOC is spot on, that’s the track you want to keep (you can adjust the blue bug accordingly)