Hi there,i've been flying iFDG A320 series during last few weeks; coupled with PSS panel. What a beauty!But there's a thing i dislike: from time to time, when on short final, i "loose" the glideslope and immediately receive the GS alert :-( and have to land by hands.Now, since with PMDG 737NG it never happened, can anyone please tell me what's wrong with my A3XX setup?Thanks in advance for helpingLuigi ;-)

Hi Luigi,The only thing I can think of is an incorrect approach speed. Too fast or too slow will often cause your problem with the GS.What approach speed do you use for the A320? Do you estimate the approach speed or look it up on a speed chart? If you need an approach speed chart, search the files for "Zagoren". He has prepared excellent performance documents for many of the big jets.Regards,JerryH

Hi Jerry,i do not use any speed chart but landing performance is set by the MCDU. I usually land in full flaps configuration and once all the data (ZFW, FUEL and so on) are put into MCDU landing speed is automatic.In effect many times i perform a very good landing :-cool so i thought it was ILS/airport related...cheersLuigi ;-)

Hi Luigi,I have to assume that the MCDU is correctly calculating speeds that perfectly match the real-life A320. But, let's also assume that the .AIR file has aerodynamic data that does not match the real-life A320 perfectly. In that case, the simulator will have a mismatch and the bird won't fly exactly right.Here's something you might try the next time you lose the GS. Do an instant replay of the approach and observe the A320 pitch attitude in spot view. My judgement of a good approach is when the aircraft pitch attitude is nearly level (that is, GS is about -3 degrees and angle-of-attack is about +3 degrees). If the aircraft is pitched up or down by more than a degree or so, I would adjust the approach speed.That's just my way of doing a quick and dirty analysis of any of the big jets. This is not meant in any way to criticize iFDG or question their models.If you haven't already, you might also look into the iFDG website and run your problem by their forums.Regards,JerryH

I am not familiar withthat model but since you are doing a model FDE and panel merge, could there be a discrepancy regarding a difference in determining weight during the approach? This could result in wrong speeds for the weight at that time and may be inducing conditions outside of the landing performance envelope under control of the MCP if the weight as seen by the FDE is not the same as the MCP sees.

>......... If the aircraft is pitched up or down by more than a>degree or so, I would adjust the approach speed.In effect, also using auto land procedure my A3XX are often pitched up 5

I'd say the other way round: if your attitude is level, something's wrong (too much sinkrate/too fast). There normally _is_ a slight pitch up attitude when speed is right, in e.g. a 737 about 3 deg nose up.Maybe you try the PSS panel with the original flight model from PSS, the iFDG merge could be a problem here (I for my part use only the original PSS install with the replacement air files and deleted all merges since I always had this or that problem).Andreas

In some airliners the nosewheel hangs low before surface contact requiring somewhat of a pitch up to prevent it from contacting before the mains. By this time airspeed in terms of rate of descent is not a factor so pitching up five degrees in the flare I think would not be an issue. After the mains make contact the nose should firmly be lowered for airliners unlike smaller aircraft where the nose is kept elevated until it drops due to lift deterioration after the stall (except in heavy crosswinds). For the airliners and larger aircraft, the nose must make contact before the application of reverse thrust to avoid nose gear shock on contact.Basicly I'm stating that the case of flare is seperate from the attitude during final and maintaining the vertical profile descent whether or not on GS.Even though you are running an autoland, I'd pause the sim and go into the aircraft fuel menu and check the weight and balance. Then note your airspeed on final and check all against the profile in the operating manual. You need to insure you are operating with limits the autoland system can control including any thrust limitations imposed by flight control.

Did you have the 'ADF and VOR' switches on?Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

The main problem if I have understood you correctly is the tendency for the aircraft to dip slightly below the g/s on short finals leading to the "Glideslope Glideslope" master warning. This does seem to be a problem with the merged aircraft and even with the more recent flight dynamics I certainly haven't found a cure for it yet despite looking.I would be careful about adjusting the lift_scalar figures to compensate, but if you wish to there is a fix: in the flaps 0 section of the aircraft.cfg for the A319 and A320 try lift_scalar=1.42. For the A321 try 0.926. However these were for the early version of the flight dynamics with the merge and should not be necessary now, but you might wish to try them.

if you mean VOR/ADF main switches, not at all.They're in central neutral position and ILS and APPR lights are on.cheersLuigi ;-)

Thank you Rob,that's exactly the tweak i was looking for :-coolThank you all for helpingLuigi ;-)

>if you mean VOR/ADF main switches, not at all.>They're in central neutral position and ILS and APPR lights>are on.>>cheers>>Luigi ;-)>Thats why then.Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

OK let me understand...should i have those switches on to keep on the GS?I have just tried Rob suggested lift_scalar values in a short test flight aboard my A319.In effect the plane is less pitched up but on final i keep loosing GS and have to manually land; furthermore now the climb rate when MANAGED VERTICAL GUIDANCE is active can easily reach 4-5000 feets per min. and also descent rate can reach 2400/2700 fpm. Are those values realistic?What i do not understand is why GS magenta dot never match the center white dot on the navigational display but it sticks half the way to above dot! This should be the problemForgive my bad english :-(thanks Luigi ;-)

You should have very little 'pitch up' if your using the correct 'flap' and speed (A/T) settings for the speed of your aircraft.Check out this Autoland video by Tero Partennen with the 'LDS767-300' and learn. http://pilots.svil.fi/teropa/LDS/Autoland_narrated.wmvDave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/