Do you need to turn auto pilot off before final touch down ? I have tried to land with auto pilot on but it is a heavy landing and I have bounced, also do I need to flair or not ? Thanks fellas.

Some info about all that malarkey.

First up, yes the real A320 can perform a fully automatic landing. By that, I mean that it can have its autopilot systems set up to fly a completely automatic approach, flare and touchdown, however, there are some things to bear in mind with this regarding what systems and criteria are actually required in order to do this...

You have probably noticed that when you turn onto a runway in the sim, or when sat aboard an airliner in real life, that there are red rectangular illuminated signs near the entrance to the runway which say stuff such as this:

All of that CAT I and CAT II etc stuff is related to what types of landings the runway can handle. Some of that is to do with the RVR (runway visual range, i.e. how good the visibility is on the runway when measured by an electro optical device near the runway), some of it is to do with the airport's autoland equipment the airport is, i.e. how many ILS antennas and transmitters there are, how good their signal is, whether there are back up systems for them, what the lighting is like and so on. All of that will determine what category landings can be performed on them. Generally speaking, the bigger and higher the numbers and letters (for example CAT IIIB), the stricter the criteria for equipment necessary and the poorer the visibility allowed during the landing.

You might also have noticed on some runways that there are often two different hold points on the taxiway which connects to the start of the runway, one nearer to the runway than the other one. The one further away from the runway is the ILS hold point for aeroplanes waiting to line up for take off. They are sometimes made to wait by ATC at the further away from the runway hold point if an aeroplane is coming in for a landing using the ILS. This is for a number of reasons including so that the metal in the aeroplane on the ground does not interfere with the ILS signal coming from the antennas! So some autolands don't just require your aeroplane to do stuff, they need other aeroplanes to do stuff too!

But whether an aeroplane can actually perform an autolanding doesn't stop with what is on the ground. There are many strict criteria which the aeroplane has to meet as well, and then there are criteria the crew have to meet in terms of training currency and qualifications in order to be legally allowed to make such a landing when their aeroplane mis capable of doing so. This includes things such as the aeroplane being equipped with twin autopilot systems which are powered/served by separate information sources, twin radar altimeters, how recently the systems were serviced, and this includes things such as the hydraulic actuators for the controls and all kinds of stuff like that. 

Anyway, now we know all that stuff, here's what you generally need to do for an autoland. First, check the runway has an ILS system (obviously). Next, if the aeroplane has an FMC, select that runway and that type of approach to the runway on the FMC so that the radio navigation systems will auto-tune the correct runway navigation frequencies and nav system headings. If your aeroplane is a bit more 'old school', you tune BOTH nav radios to the runway's ILS frequency, then you set BOTH course heading dials to the magnetic heading of the runway. When you get about ten miles or so from the runway and are coming into its extended cone of the ILS radio signals, you should be at about 3-4000 feet AGL (follow ATC guidance for the exact height), this is so you fly into the ILS glideslope signal from underneath it (this is important in order to capture the signal correctly, do not try to fly down into an ILS signal from above it).

At this point your autopilot should be on on heading mode with LOC (localiser) selected and the altitude being held at the aforementioned 3-4000 feet AGL. The aeroplane should 'capture' the localiser signal and turn automatically to line up with the runway. Now you check to make sure you are configured for a landing; correct flap setting (maybe 20 degrees or so), correct approach speed set on the autothrottle (usually around the 120-130 knot mark depending on weight), spoilers armed (pull the thin metal lever next to the thrust levers back to its first detent), wheel autobrakes switch set as required (select the severity number based on how short the runway is, shorter runway, higher number). With all that done, you then monitor the glideslope indicator on the Primary Flight Display (on most PFDs this is along the right side of the instrument). When you see the glideslope marker getting near to the centre marker, you select APP (approach) on the autopilot and then (this is the important autoland bit), you engage the other autopilot, i.e. you are already using the first autopilot (typically labelled CMD 1 or CMD A), but you want the other one as well, so you switch on that one too (usually CMD 2/B). Now you have two autopilot systems (i.e. a dual redundant system) flying the aeroplane on its approach and it should then go right down the pipe and land automatically, including flaring automatically.

Depending on the aeroplane's equipment level, you might find the autothrottle reduces itself automatically, or you may hear it command you to 'RETARD, RETARD'), in which case you just chop the throttle manually (be sure to disengage the autothrottle as well as the autopilot if you are taking over control). The aeroplane will automatically deploy spoilers if you had them armed when it touches down, and it may still guide automatically on the runway centreline of some higher CAT runways, but generally speaking, when the thing is down on the wheels, you'd disengage the A/P and manually deploy the thrust reversers until you have slower to fifty knots, at which point you deselect the reversers and use the wheel brakes.

That's a full autoland. But as noted, it is not as common as you might suppose owing to all the strict rules which have to be met, so it is far more common to simply disengage the autopilot when you get to about 200 feet AGL and then chop the throttles, then flare it manually at somewhere around 50 feet above the ground. Be aware that if there is a crosswind, you will have to be ready for that when you take over and also be aware that the A320 has a special system which engages on landing in crosswinds, whereby the ,moment there is any weight on even just one wheel, the rate at which the ailerons move is automatically reduced by half (this is to help prevent overcontrolling from causing an engine pod strike during 'wing down' crosswind landings, so if you are fighting the aeroplane a bit in a crosswind landing, be aware you might have to give it some more sideways stick when the wheels touch owing to the reduced aileron control authority.

Keep in mind that all of the above is with regard to the real things, so some stuff in the sim might be less complicated, or not present at all. Don't fret if you find the A320 hard to land in MSFS, it is hard to land in MSFS and if you can get it down in one piece in the sim, you could probably land the real thing easily, because the handling of the default A320 in MSFS definitely needs a bit of patching.