IFR flight and MDCU

[Guest pylon101]

This way or other these question have been raising all the time on this forum - and still remain unclear for me.I learned to fly with flight plan and make happy autolandings. Mostly - it works great after some training.But regarding IFR flying I have some questions.I bought all PSS FS9 products (besides Vulcan)- please respond!!!If an airport works under IFR while we depart:1) are we supposed to take off with or without MDCU information filled in? If yes - which part of information should be loaded into FMS?2) if we take off and leave airport area under IFR instructions - how and at what point should we program MDCU/FMS?3) is it possible to make autopilot flight without MDCU at all?If we arrive in an airport under IFR:1) Can we use Boeing-like non-FMS approach and landing? Perhaps no. As ILS frequency in radio stack doesn't make LOC and APR working.2) Or we should insert information about landing into MDCU while approaching, after we get instruction for assigned runday?All this questions are almost not covered by manual - and definitely not by tutorial flights.

[Guest pylon101]

Actually, it occured to me that a good, well written IFR tutorial flight from PSS would be very helpful.

[Guest Phoenix_7]

we have several tutorials available at the Phoenix siteanother excellent site for info ishttp://www.speedbirdonline.co.uk/index2.htmlJohnPSS SUPPORTsupport@phoenix-simulation.co.ukhttp://www.avsim.com/pss/phoenix.jpg

[Guest vrandar]

Thanks for the plug John :) although I must admit my MCDU tutorial is now getting a bit old. Time for an update methinks.OK Pylon here are some answers which I hope are useful:If an airport works under IFR while we depart...Actually it is a flight that is IFR or VFR rather than the airport itself. There are always exceptions to this, for example with Heathrow which only allows IFR flights.1) are we supposed to take off with or without MDCU information filled in? If yes - which part of information should be loaded into FMS?The Airbus is designed to make use of as much automation as possible for reasons of flight efficiency and fuel economy, so the MCDU data needs to be completed before you pushback. As a very minimum you need the following info on the following pages completed (going from top right round to top left):INIT: From/To, CRZ FL, COST INDEX and press LSK3R to align IRSNEXT PAGE INIT: ZFW, BLOCK FUELF-PLAN: DEPARTURE runway and SIDPERF: V1, VR, V2 (you can right-click these to get them entered automatically). You could also complete the Flex Temp but leaving it as-is is OK.2) if we take off and leave airport area under IFR instructions - how and at what point should we program MDCU/FMS? See above, you should not be starting to do this after takeoff. If you do, how will you know what your vSpeeds should have been. And you will dramatically increase your workload at a time when you should be doing after takeoff checks, following ATC vectors (if they take you off the SID - unlikely but it can happen).3) is it possible to make autopilot flight without MDCU at all? You will need to use selected mode throughout the flight and the Airbus is not designed to be flown this way. Why would you want to fly the aircraft without making use of the automation avaialble? It is just making life more difficult for yourself and achieves nothing.If we arrive in an airport under IFR:1) Can we use Boeing-like non-FMS approach and landing? Perhaps no. As ILS frequency in radio stack doesn't make LOC and APR working.If the ILS frequencies are entered correctly (look on the RAD NAV page) and you are activating the approach low enough (8000 feet or less) the LOC and APPR buttons shold work, they always do for me anyway.Yes, non-FMS approaches, manual landings, circle to land etc etc can all be done.2) Or we should insert information about landing into MDCU while approaching, after we get instruction for assigned runday?Yes you should enter the correct runway and STAR once you know which landing runway is active. Enter the APPR page data (click LSK6R Next Phase several times until you get to APPR) when you are at about 10,000 feet. Make sure you activate approach - I usually do so before reaching 3000 feet but that is quite late.

[Guest pylon101]

Vrandar, thank you for your calm and understandable answers. I was somewhere there in getting all. But it was important to get an input from someone more experienced.Thanks again and happy landings for all of us!!!

[Guest RobOlson]

What if I just wanted to enter an ILS frequency and land? I have found that I can do just that through the NAV input, but I can't adjust the OBS (like a Boeing). How does one align the Airbus OBS to the correct runway heading?

[Guest Phoenix_7]

the best method is to select the arrival runway from the F-PLAN pageJohnPSS SUPPORTsupport@phoenix-simulation.co.ukhttp://www.avsim.com/pss/phoenix.jpg