A320 - how landing it

[Guest tatankamani]

Hello All,I am have problems, landing the A320 on airports without ILS. It is no problem to execute an autoland on airports with ILS, but my

[Guest vrandar]

I recommend you get hold of approach plates for the airports you fly in to and follow the instructions in them re altitude etc. You will also need to be quite confident in your use of selected heading and speed.

[Guest tatankamani]

High Rob,thank you for your reply. My primary problem is, what is the correct way, controlling the speed i.e. with Auto Throttle ON or manually ? An additional question is, is there any way to operate (turn) the speed knob besides mouse klicking right or left ?Thank youBruno

[Guest vrandar]

Autothrust should be ON. It is possible to control the thrust manually but there are very few occasions when you would need to do this and it distracts you from other tasks at a critical time. Airbus provide autothrust so use it.For the speed knob question go to flight simulator 9PSSA3XXA320PanelConfig which opens the panel config utility. Scroll down to the MCP speed items and you can set a keyboard shortcut for the push, pull, increase and decrease.

[Guest tatankamani]

High Rob,thank you very much again, it is definitely that, I wanted to know.Bruno

[Byrna 0]

Hi Bruno,There is no problem at all landing the A320 manually or any other commercial jet for that matter. Landing using the auto-pilot and auto-land is fine but it doesn't teach someone how to really fly...one needs practice to get the feel of the airplane on full manual.I just landed a 747-400 manually today and with an airport with no ILS at all but I did use the FS2004 GPS until the runway was visible. I always land manually and this is the fun of FS anyways - to get that priceless satisfaction of controlling an airplane ALL BY YOURSELF with no computer help. Here's my suggestion for your manual landings:-use autopilot until you are about 10,000 feet AGL then switch to manual - FULL manual. At about 235KIAS (maximum) you can lower the flaps to 1 and make sure your speed is going down.-Descent rate should be approximately 5 times your KIAS speed (some use ground speed for this). But also take into account your distance from the runway. -At top of descent, when you first begin your descent, VSI should be around 2000fpm, gradually being reduced to 800fpm or less on the final and then to just 20-50fpm before touchdown.-Should slow down gradually (N1% is less important than actualy IAS but N1 should be around 40-60% during the approach and even less to slow down). Airbuses glide much more than Boeings (at least the A320 in comparison to its Boeing cousin, the 737) so it is normal procedure to use the SPOILERS if required to slow down to the desired speed.-Use the 3 TO 1 RULE constantly and check yourself against it as you descend. For example: You should be 6000ft AGL at 18NM from the airport; 3000ft AGL (above ground level) at 9NM, 1500ft AGL at 4.5NM.-Speed: I slow down to 180KIAS by about 15NM from touchdown, then gradually go to 160KIAS, then close to your VREF - say 140KIAS at touchdown.-Do NOT use SPOILERS below about 1000-2000ft AGL as the plane can crash due to sudden altitude loss. Also, try to use the RUDDER not the ailerons to make fine course adjustments to stay aligned with the runway. Banking the plane is not recommended so close to the airport as it is too abrupt a change in direction.-All this time, you should keep N1 fairly constant at, say 50-60% and use pitch to control speed and flaps to slow down and spoilers to slow down if flaps are insufficient. Cutting thrust can stall the plane.Hope this helps.John

[Guest FreeBee1979]

This is how I would land the A320:- Autopilot and FD ON till Long final/Downwind- Autothrust ON all the time, Speed managed- At about 15 NM from touchdown activate approach phase (if not automatically), This will get your speed back to Green Ball speed- Once at Green Dot speed and about 10 miles out, Select flaps 1- When at S speed, select Flaps 2- Glidepath on a normal approach will be about 3 degrees.- So e.g. while flying at 2000' and 6 NM out you will start your final descent- Just prior to final descent disengage the autopilot and FD.- Gear down- Select FPA ON (The BIRD) and -3.0 degrees. - Follow the bird with autothrust on. Adjust the FPA if you're high or low- After Gear down and at F speed, select flaps 3- At around 1000' AGL select flaps FULL and landig checklist- At 25' thrust IDLE and start the flare (2-3 degrees nose up)- At touchdown Thrust to full reverse- At 70 kts Thrust REV IDLE- Before 20 kts AUTOBRAKES off (if selected)Hope this helpsRegardsJeroen Sengers

[Guest vrandar]

I agree that it can be done in the A320 and indeed I do it myself occasionally. But the PSS A320 family is not that forgiving on full manual thrust and it is best to leave it on autothrust and concentrate on other aspects of the approach. You post doesn't indicate if you have actually flown the PSS 320 so apologies if you have, but sometimes it's better to use the systems that Airbus provide rather than proving you have skills that might be more suited to other types.

[Guest tatankamani]

Hello,thank you all, for your recommendations, how to execute manual landings. With some basic information, it is not as difficult, as I thought.Thank you again.Bruno