Flying an A330
 

I'm a PPL with a lapsed IR. Through a well-connected friend, I've been offered an hour in an A330 Level D simulator. I've had a couple of rides in Boeing 737 NG simulators and a few 777 and L1011 jump seat rides, but this will be my first Airbus experience.

I am interested in seeing how it flies manually in Normal Law and Direct Law.

I've downloaded and read the appropriate parts of an A330/A340 FCTM, but I would like to know if there is any other online resource that would be useful to read.

Definitely A330 Flight Deck and Systems Briefing For Pilots.

FD,

Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for.

A330 Flight Deck and Systems Briefing For Pilots

Glad you like the proposal.

Based on the time available, you may also consider the following suggestions to be useful. Or not :):
. read the Guide first, before FCTM. Just walk through it easily, skip all chapters apart from flightdeck layout and operational philosophy.
. find sections in FCTM that provide you with more info about F.L. and O.P., read those too.

Targets:
- to know your seat and surroundings, once you fill the seat in SIM (time will be precious)
- to understand only the elementary of Airbus FBW, in order not to be surprised / taken away - save time for some jolly tricks :D
- make sure you have enough time available to land the ship in direct law, just once.

For sure you will enjoy it.

FD,

Great suggestions. Thanks.

I appreciate your encouragement to try landing in Direct Law. From my reading, particularly about the pitot and AoA probe icing issues, there seem to be seem to be a lot of people who are scared of Direct Law.

So what "jolly tricks" do you recommend? :)

By way of background, in one of my 737 sim rides, I flew a no-autothrottle, raw-data IGS 13 at Kai Tak and much to my surprise, actually managed to land on the runway. As someone said to me afterwards, "Fly it like a big 172". I wonder what my impression of the A330 will be.

I am rated on the 320 only, so please take all with a pinch of salt.

For DCT law, use no A/THR - you will need to trim with power changes, it can be done quite easily: move the THR levers <> spin the wheel. (no artificial backpressure available from the stick, no trim-hat there either)

Jolly tricks? Whatever you please:
. V1 ENG FAIL with split V1 to Vr
. multiple HYD failure, just to see, how well it flies with so little sytems available
. definitely GWPS escape :)
. in case you have some gliding experience and a good instructor, DUAL ENG FAIL overhead at FL 100.

A very important thing is to appreciate how big it is. That means INERTIA. It will not respond as a smaller aircraft does. Plan ahead.

FD,

I had been wondering about trimming with no stick-force feedback. I find it very strange when flying X-Plane aircraft with a simple joystick. I often find it easier to ignore the stick and set pitch attitude with the trim.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll ask for a V1 cut and also look at hydraulic failures. GPWS escape as well.

I have a lot of glider time, but I'm not sure I would be up to a glide approach in a 230 tonne jet!

fantom,
Thanks for the inertia reminder. I had noticed that in the X-Plane flight models of the 747 and B52, but had forgotten to put that in my pre-sim notes.

I've also made a note to remember to flare higher than normal. The first landing I saw from a 777 jump seat really surprised me. It looked to me as if we were 100' up when the gear touched!

Earlier today, I had been told that my sim was AOG, but while I was typing, I had a bad news/good news call. The A330 is still down, but I've been swapped into an A380!

So I guess fantom's advice applies in spades. :)

My ride is Friday morning ( about 15 hours from now). I'll post my impressions on the Private Flying forum.