Ever since (past several weeks) I got FSX, I have been trying to hand fly the A321. Lots of people have said it can be done and have given references to the real jet. Then others said that the systems in FSX are not even close to the real jet.They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I hope that someone can show me what switches I might not have set correctly when I want to "Hand Fly" the jet. No coupled autopilot/autothrottle.When I disconnect the autopilot switch, I can maneuver the aircraft. Then the FD and the autothrottle buttons light up and take over control. If I turn back on the autopilot, I can then turn off the FD and auto throttle buttons to regain control over the engines but cannot turn the jet. In order to land I finally have to shut down both engines and turn into a big glider in order to reduce engine thrust. Finally, why dose the N1 gauge show the word "Idle" up near the "Red line"?This looks like it could be a nice jet to fly but my "Fun meter" is pegged trying to figure out how to "Manually" control the engines without dialing in some number on the autopilot panel.Terry

Ok, just did another test flight to make sure I'm not confusing things.Auto-throttle on the Airbus in FSX behaves like this:ATHR is completely independent from AP.If you want to use auto-throttle, pressing ATHR to light up is just "arming" it. You can still controll throttle manually at this point.This is how it was with my test flight just a few minutes ago.Auto-throttle does not kick in before you either press the SPD button to activate your selected speed (the central SPD button doesn't work without ATHR lit up) or the TOGA button (take-off / go around thrust, also only works with ATHR lit up) on the throttle quadrant panel.FD, the flight director, is activating the cues on the PFD to manually follow the values you set the autopilot for. Once FD is on, it seems FD can then only be deactivated if the autopilot is activated (AP button). This seems to be some kind of safety function.So, AP lets the autopilot control heading and altitude, ATHR controls thrust.Behaving different from AP, ATHR only controls thrust if additionally SPD or TOGA is selected.This means you can decide: You fly, ATHR holds speed -> ATHR + SPDYou fly, ATHR holds take-off / go around thrust -> ATHR + TOGAAP flies, you hold speed -> AP (optionally + HDG, + ALT)AP flies, ATHR holds speed -> AP + ATHR + SPD To get the AP to navigate, instead selecting HDG and ALT, you choose LOC (for GPS waypoints / VORs etc) or APR (for ILS approaches).I hope this helps a bit. :)This is how it works with FSX. There seem to be many differences from the real plane though.PS: Your pictures shows FD on and ATHR just armed. At this point, the plane is completely under your control. Otherwise green letters showing SPD / ALT or HDG etc. would be visible at the left display (the PFD).

Thanks for the explanation but there must be something else that is wrong with my configuation. When those "Arm" only buttons are lit, I cannot override (steer the jet) with the stick. Also the throttles are not responsive as they are trying to go to takeoff thrust as you explained. Where are those other buttons you talked about. maybe they are set and I do not even know and that is why the jet will not hand fly. Terry

Make sure AP is off and that no green ALT SPEED HDG LOC etc. shows on your left display (PFD = primary flight display).The buttons for SPD, HDG, and ALT are those round knobs below the numbers on the autopilot panel.Clicking left or right areas of the knobs changes numbers (turns the knob), clicking the center activates the setting (pushes the knob) when AP or ATHR is on (SPD for ATHR, the rest for AP).So if the throttle moves on its own, either your controls are misconfigured or you touched the TOGA button or the center of the SPD knob.Also, if you can't steer the plane, then AP is active.However, as long as everything looks as on the screenshot you posted (i.e. no green lettering on the PFD, AP button not lit up), all controls should be in your hands.

In your last sentence you said it "Should be in my hands" but so far I have not been able to figure out why it is not.Maybe I need to remove and re-install the entire FSX?Terry

Seeing your N1 at about 90% makes me think...Idea number 1:Have you tried, with ATHR lit, to push the center of the SPD knob twice, i.e. activating ATHR with the set speed and disengaging it again?Idea number 2:How many controllers do you use? Do all other planes work fine?Just thought maybe you assigned two axes to throttle and one is overriding the other.Idea number 3:Just to make sure, when you select the throttle quadrant window (on the main panel the farthest left panel selcetion button), is the button labeled TOGA pushed down?I'm out of ideas now...

My stick is a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro and I use the throttle on it. It works exactly as designed with all of the other aircraft in FSX and FS2004.You say you have to push the set buttons twice to disengage the autothrottle system? I push it once to set and once again and I cannot set in a number. If I push it again I can then set the new number.The only other button I have not looked at yet is the TOGA. Is that button suppose to be up or down?In the mean time I have completely removed FSX and am about to re-install FSX just in case something is not right there.Terry

Terry,I don't know about your auto throttle problem, but the possible reason you can't steer the aircraft is because once you turn the AP on it probably sets the "Wing Leveler". To disable that, press "cntl+V" and you will have steering again. maxsdad

I removed and completely re-installed FSX. Works better but still have problems with the throttles. One thing I have noticed is that you have to be extremely careful with that TOGA button. It looks like the throttles might hit it when you go for max thrust even though the engines are not overspeed or temp.Is there a control/switch on the panel other than the cntl + V to disable the wing leveler?TerryPS: One of the things I did besides the complete remove/install was to get rid of some programs that were running in the background. I got rid of my ATI video drivers for my ATI 9800 Pro 128 Mb video card for the Current Omega drivers. With those I do not have to run the CCC which eats up lots of memory and computer cycles along with the MS Net Frame program. I am now down from 29-30 processes to 25-26 processes running in the background. The computer boots quicker and responds faster to keyboard commands. I also removed (as much as I could) I.E. 7 for I.E.6. That in it's self made a real big difference on my system. There was a lot of MS garbage that loads on your computer when you upgrade to I.E.7 that you really do not need and again wastes computer resources.TT

No that doesn't work for me. I asked in another post abd i believe they said no steering with ap on. Bob

To stop that problem, use the solution from FS9.In the AutoPilot section of the Aircraft's CFG, add the lines......use_no_default_bank=1 and use_no_default_pitch=1These lines will disable the bank and pitch locks. RichardS