In the Neo, the MFD should automatically turn on the terrain overlay with big red "TERRAIN" lettering as you approached, IIRC. You also should have recieved several "caution, terrain" and "terrain ahead" audible alerts, though I'm not positive which verbiage Airbus uses compared to others with EGPWS.

Given what Airbus is doing as far as automatic TCAS recovery where the aircraft will dodge other aircraft for you, it's only a matter of time until the bus will automatically perform terrain escape maneuvers for you too.

You died not because of ATC, but because the aircraft in your sim isn't well modeled, yet.

Yes I know BUT in real life would ATC not tell you at what sensible height you should be, that was my point, also I am not skilful enough to use charts which I do not have anyway. I knew I was too low but I wanted to test the ATC. Also should the "low terrain " warning not have sounded" ? 

3 minutes ago, WestAir said:

In the Neo, the MFD should automatically turn on the terrain overlay with big red "TERRAIN" lettering as you approached, IIRC. You also should have recieved several "caution, terrain" and "terrain ahead" audible alerts, though I'm not positive which verbiage Airbus uses compared to others with EGPWS.

Given what Airbus is doing as far as automatic TCAS recovery where the aircraft will dodge other aircraft for you, it's only a matter of time until the bus will automatically perform terrain escape maneuvers for you too.

You died not because of ATC, but because the aircraft in your sim isn't well modeled, yet.

Yes my thoughts exactly.

1 hour ago, RaptyrOne said:

Poor Malc. R.I.P.

😢

Crazy but I have been re incarnated and I am still employed by the airline, who would have believed it ✈️

How it should have gone. 😂 Starts 13:25. 737NG not A32N.

3 minutes ago, Malc said:

Crazy but I have been re incarnated and I am still employed by the airline, who would have believed it ✈️

Yay! 😁

SO these two guys flew into a mountain ... no wait ... walked into a mountain ... ummh flew into a bar ... lets start again

Edited April 27, 20215 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

58 minutes ago, Malc said:

I am not skilful enough to use charts which I do not have anyway.

The good news is that you have them!

https://skyvector.com has charts from around the world, and it's completely free.

If you zoom in you'll see the world is divided into rectangles, and in the middle of the rectangle will be a blue large-sized number made of 1 or 2 large digits and then 1 small one. That's your minimum safe altitude. If the large digits are 10 and the small one is 5, then as long as you don't descend below 10,500 feet inside of that square, you're safe.

Here's an example:

 

So in the rectangle to the lower right, 4,800 feet is the minimum safe altitude. 

 

3 hours ago, Chock said:

The radar in the radome of the A320 is not a terrain radar, it is one which detects precipitation, dense storm clouds and such.

To be precise, it is possible to use the weather radar on the 320 (and all other airliners I flew) to some extent to also show the terrain...

Older radars have a "tilt" knob that the pilot needs to move to sweep the radar beam up and down. If you sweep it down enough, you can see the ground getting reflected, and with a little practice you can even make out major feature (of different reflectivity) like shorelines, islands, large lakes or even large cities. The 747´s I flew even had a "map" setting, so the gain was adjusted to improve terrain reflection.

You could also use the radar to "spot" nearby aircraft, but you really had to know where they are to adjust the beam angle accordingly.

In a way you can use this radar also to "avoid" terrain - if you tilt the beam up by about 3 degrees, the lower edge of the beam sweeps "horizontally" ahead, and a big mountainrange ahead of you would show up (albeit with no warning sound or so).

Modern wxr radar are automated, they pan up and down on their own, use a terrain database to discern ground returns from genuine precipitation, "estimate" how high cumulus clouds will go using a season and geographical database prediction (clouds go higher in the summer over Africa than in the winter over Greenland) and so on.

You can still switch those modern radars to "manual mode", though and then do all the shenanigans I described above.

Cheers, Jan

 

I've been flying with TAWS and it's pretty accurate as long as my GPS works. But yes planning, reading charts, dead reckoning are important to know where you are at. It's not uncommon for ATC in real world to give wrong vector. Happened to be on several occasions. 

I use Avliasoft EFB on every flight. It gives me terrain on the moving map, so I can see exactly what is around me. It also gives all approaches, frequencies, runways, taxiways, AI air traffic, weather, winds, etc..etc..

As far as the default ATC, you might as well call your next door neighbor and ask them for vectors and altitudes. 

Always be  aware of Cumulo-granite clouds!

https://images.app.goo.gl/AY5YJasoVLsEf6Dn6

9 hours ago, Malc said:

Yesterday I flew into a mountain

Many of us have even if they don't admit it. I did it a few months back flying a RNAV approach into KASE at night. Was following the approach and all of a sudden the runway approach lights disappeared. I thought mountain but it was already to late and my climb wasn't enough. I was in a GA plane and not an airliner, but I've flew flight sims for decades and should have planned better (night into KASE is tricky) instead of relying on ATC.

Yes, trust but verify is good advice, but simmers are learning as they go (not being instructed). Sometimes we slack off because the stakes aren't real (got to get that snack, hit the john, etc.). So don't feel so bad. Now you/I/the next person that does it knows.

Edited April 27, 20215 yr by Phantoms

6 hours ago, Chock said:

The radar in the radome of the A320 is not a terrain radar

I know that. But nontheless the aircraft comes with a terrain display function that will give you minimum safe altitutes.

So I was wondering why that shouldn't be useful.