Airbus Simulator Hints/Tricks/Tips

[peacock1]

........lots of people don't read and digest the Airbus Flight Crew training Manual for the A320. This is a major mistake, as it has vital info.
Much of the (excellent) info. in this thread is in the manual.
The more effort you put into reading it, the more confident you'll feel,
operating the minibus.
Enjoy, and the best advice I can give, is to make a one, or two line note in a notebook, of every small little non-normal item that crops up, and later, read the relevant manual, be it Ops, Fcom,Mel,FCTM, to further increase knowledge.

[Microburst2002]

I love the "trick" of using ILS or VOR course indicator to use it with the NDB.
Problem is that you need to have the approval of the left seat guy, and that is not so easy!

[I-2021]

6) Engine Failure on Take off after V1 or if call is GO
a. TOGA
b. Vr, +climb gear up
c. Take off heading, in trim conditions auto pilot on
d. 400’ Primary ECAM actions
e. Inform ATC, request RW heading, and lower altitude
f. When on Bleed page, ask PNF to turn the APU on.
g. Status Page : NO OEBS, NO COMPUTER RESETS, NO ENGINE RELIGHT (if engine flame out this is when you will apply paper checklist for ENGINE RELIGHT) After TO Check list and than read STATUS
h. Ask ATC that you request Radar vectors, confirm if same runway and same wx.
i. Ask PNF to prepare the FMGS for arrival, once complete, either you brief or ask him to do the briefing as well and than approach checklist.
j. At an appropriate time inform CC and Dispatch that you are returning back. Tell CC due to Technical problems and dispatch for the abnormalities. Make a PA for guests as well.
k. Once Approach checklist is complete inform ATC that you are ready for the approach.

Hi,

I personaly do not agree on a few things :

f) Better starting the APU when on the ELEC page. APU bleed is only a good idea in case of engine flameout, if you had a damage or a fire, you must first close the crossbleed before applying any apu bleed.
g) The sequence is no OEBs, no Computer resets, no normal checklists. At this point you have a normal checklist, the after takeoff. Read after take off checklist, this is not the moment for the engine relight. QRH comes after ECAM actions complete.
i) Transfer control to the PNF and prepare yourself the approach. You wouldn't want to fly an approach single engine that you have not prepared nor briefed?

10) All LOC intercept must be on HDG mode.

Why ?

17) Abandoning Approach
a. If a fault occurs after established on finals or whenever the checklist cannot be completed by 1000’ AGL abandon approach, inform ATC that you are abandoning approach.
b. Select HDG, and initiate climb and request RV or further instructions.
c. Any abnormalities below 500’ AGL continue and land.

b) If you do not select TOGA, your FPL will not be sequenced and you will mess up all your fuel predictions.
c) If you are talking about Low Vis Ops, the gate is the alert height, or 100 ft RA. Below 1000 ft and above the AH a go around is mandatory for all the reasons described in FCOM 4.

19) Anytime Recoverable failure, try to recover it once committed to land that is below 1000’ AGL, recover the system and than turn the pump off.

You mean getting into a hyd checklist below 1000 ft with landing distance procedure apply? Did not really understand this one.

20)So in case of flaps locked use config 1 in case of slats jammed use config 2 before leaving the facility for approach.

Again why? In good weather conditions that might be ok, but if you have bad weather with icing conditions (sim weather) I do not think that it is a great choice. Configure the airplane based on your distance to threshold. Before leaving the facility be sure that the both of you are aware of what is coming next with the slats/flaps jammed cklist, that you have read your approach cklist and you have activated the approach phase.

32) Anytime PFD failure on takeoff, continue takeoff with ISIS, turn the other A/P On and than ECAM actions.

If PFD fails, you have no ECAM actions. You get your PFD back in 1 second on the ND. If it doesn't, transfer controls, and push the PFD/ND xfr switch. You have it back. Read Display unit failure paper checklist when you have time. If you get a DMC1 fail, that's another story.

33) Anytime there is A/P failure immediately engage the other one.

I would say try to figure out what happens. Hand fly a few seconds ?

39) Under following conditions ECAM actions can be started below 400’ AGL
a. Reverser unlocked
b. Exceedenses (Engine Parameters)
c. Damage (Both N1 & N2 will have amber crosses)
d. Stall (Engine Stall)
e. Oil pressure (Genuine low oil pressure)

If as a Captain you judge that it is the safest course of action it is ok, but be very very careful on retarding THR levers at low altitudes.

I would add :

59) Review sidestick interference effects and sidestick priority logics. This can get you out of troubles if you get a sidestick interference at low altitude and low speed.

60) Packs off take off, when selecting packs off, one or more remain on. Options : Try again; take off with packs on if perf permit; Select bleeds off; start APU and APU bleed ON.

61) When you get IR or ADR failures, before touching anything related to these failures, ask yourself if what you are about to do makes sense. Like A/C dispatched with ADR 2 INOP. As per MEL ADR ref FO on 3. During flight you get IR 3 FAULT. If you go on and select IR 3 off, your FO loses his air data reference. the ECAM is an electronic QRH, it gives priorities but does not think for you.

Cheers !

[Slasher]

Airbus Simulator Hints/Tricks/Tips

When all the dust settles a sim ride is an act to keep your salary for the next
6 months. Just do everything the check guy wants to see, impractical in real
life or not.

Any pre-ride training seshes are extremely useful and should be utilised to the
full. Use every valuable minute to your advantage and don't be afraid to ask for
specific exercises that you can learn from for either the sim check or real world.

Know where the references are even though you know some by heart. A simple
manual switching, like for a Brake Sys Fault, and the checkie might ask why you
didn't use the book reference if you just went ahead and did it off your own pat.

Do not rely solely on the QRH and that ECAM - pull out those FCOMs because
they'll have stuff in em not shown anywhere else. Use them for each and every
relevant problem he throws at you even if it says "Crew awareness". This will
keep your @rse fully covered and prevent you forgetting anything, especially
those notes in italics and "Items not shown on ECAM". Airbus manuals are so
damn bloody confusing and mish-mashed like a dog's dinner, that its easy to
overlook and miss something important.

Another thing - don't be thrown off by any damn checkie bitching on about
sim time running out. No pilot worth his stripes rushes a G+Y inop or Emer
Gen until all bases are cleared, all speeds and distances double-checked by
both pilots, full briefing understood by both. Let him rant afterwards at the
debrief on how long it took you to complete the exercise, but there's nothing
he can put on paper if you've done the entire procedure timely, correctly and
without rush.

Oh and never ever bull**** any checkie - if you don't know something just say
so. The bugger will see right through you if you don't.

If in doubt anytime: balls-to-the-wall TOGA. Even if you screw up the approach
(or TO for that matter) better to just go around and try again then push a bad
position and prang, and then the checkie ticking the FAIL box on your form.

Summary: if you have the book reference for everything you say and do you're
fireproofed to the hilt. Good luck!

[rooaaiast]

If PM doesnt push Thrust Levers all the way to TOGA and they are put into CLimb after the V1 cut, you won't get MCT until they are (briefly) put into and out of TOGA position. ( don't ask me how I know this...)

[I-2021]

If PM doesnt push Thrust Levers all the way to TOGA and they are put into CLimb after the V1 cut, you won't get MCT until they are (briefly) put into and out of TOGA position. ( don't ask me how I know this...)

Hey,

Did not really get all the process you are describing, but anyway, if you get an engine failure during takeoff, you are either in MAN TOGA or MAN FLX. If you are in MAN FLX and you don't select TOGA thrust (you don't have to from perf calculations), when you will need to select THR MCT you will need to move it out of its detent because FLX and MCT have the same lever detent. That is the only reason. In single engine moving the lever out of FLX/MCT and back again is like saying I don't want FLX takeoff thrust anymore but MCT thrust. As soon as you are back, you get THR MCT (provided you are in OP CLB) and A/THR white.

cheers.

[Wirbelsturm]

10) All LOC intercept must be on HDG mode.

That was the case with non GPS fitted aircraft where the nav accuracy could cause problems intercepting the localiser.

Our old CFM aircraft have no GPS and thus must be in HDG mode but the rest of the fleet can intercept quite happily from NAV.

[rooaaiast]

I-2021,
You are indeed correct. Must get proper sleep before posting.
I find that rather than just moving the thrust levers out of the Flex/MCT detent, it is more reliable in the Sim to move them briefly all the way to TOGA and back. Regards

[I-2021]

@Wirbelsturm

Yes, completely forgot about it but so true

[21-Lancer]

A/C Confiuration/Speed sequence

Hi "Compressor Stall"
Could you, or anyone else, describe a safe configuration & speed management sequence based on distance to land. I assume radar vectors [so you can appreciate your distance to land but you don't know it for sure] and a corect sequenced F-PLN.
Thank you!

[I-2021]

That was the case with non GPS fitted aircraft where the nav accuracy could cause problems intercepting the localiser.

Our old CFM aircraft have no GPS and thus must be in HDG mode but the rest of the fleet can intercept quite happily from NAV.

Hi,

back on the subject just to add that you need to intercept in HDG if your navigation accuracy is low and greater than 1 nm.

Cheers.