Flybywire A320 Checklist

[HiFlyer 9,358]

Ok, so I'm a simmer who was never into the big jets until MSFS made them worthwhile for me, providing an immersive world I wanted to fly in.

For the last few months, I've dug in, doing flights in the A320, but avoiding starting from cold and dark until now.

So now I'm delving deeper, and moving into the details of startup, i'm bumping headfirst against the (dreaded) ingame checklist, which has more stuff to do than I ever dreamed, and right in the middle of frantically ticking of checkmarks, the plane starts pushback on its own, making me feel like a student with a long test with a short timer.

It occurs to me that even in the most verbose videos, I can't remember anybody doing all of that, and I wonder if people typically do, or skip as much of it as they can get away with.....

How many people actually know what every one of those buttons does and why?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

 

 

 

[pmplayer 9,434]

Yeah, Concorde is Concorde thats a difference..😇

cheers 😉

[WestAir 2,522]

So congrats on getting deeper into the rabbit hole!

First thing you want to do is turn off your AI Copilot. He or she will request pushback the instant you start the Auxillary Power Units. That said, the A320 is pretty slim on "things to do" compared to golden age airliners. You need a generator (APU / Ground Power) to give you electricity, you need the navigation on, the fuel pumps on, and then you can play with airbus' fancy autostart systems.

By practice #3 you should be a pro!

[HiFlyer 9,358]

20 minutes ago, WestAir said:

So congrats on getting deeper into the rabbit hole!

First thing you want to do is turn off your AI Copilot. He or she will request pushback the instant you start the Auxillary Power Units. That said, the A320 is pretty slim on "things to do" compared to golden age airliners. You need a generator (APU / Ground Power) to give you electricity, you need the navigation on, the fuel pumps on, and then you can play with airbus' fancy autostart systems.

By practice #3 you should be a pro!

The ingame checklist seems like about 10 pages.......

Edited September 5, 2021 by HiFlyer

[WestAir 2,522]

30 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

The ingame checklist seems like about 10 pages.......

It looks worse than it is. Look at the overhead: You want all of the buttons to be blank; no white or amber text showing (Blue is ok) and then all you'll really ever touch in flight is the lights panel, intercom, anti-ice, and the seatbelt signs.

Trust me you'll get the hang of it really fast.

[polosim 841]

1 hour ago, pmplayer said:

Concorde is Concorde thats a difference..😇

Sacrilege!!!!!!!

this is not a Concorde cockpit!

[Silicus 878]

Go here:

https://docs.flybywiresim.com/pilots-corner/beginner-guide/overview/

or watch easyjetsimpilot's FBW tutorial flight if you are more of a visual guy..

 

[ThomseN_inc 1,128]

I highly recommend FS2Crew for the FBW Neo. It really adds to the immersion and reduces workload. Its definately worth getting.

[MrFuzzy 2,118]

It's not that complicated, if you want to save time you can do a shortened checklist.

• batteries and external power
• ADIRS: all 3 switches on NAV (central position)
• APU master switch on, APU start, when available - APU bleed on
• fuel pumps all on
• engine mode start, then start both engines
• switch lights on
• APU bleed off and APU master switch off when engines are stabilized
• TCAS on TA/RA

You're pretty much ready to go, GPS will be working by the time you get to the designated runway.

As for the pushback, just do not delegate ATC comms to FO during the startup procedure.

[sanh 823]

1 hour ago, MrFuzzy said:

It's not that complicated, if you want to save time you can do a shortened checklist.

• batteries and external power
• ADIRS: all 3 switches on NAV (central position)
• APU master switch on, APU start, when available - APU bleed on
• fuel pumps all on
• engine mode start, then start both engines
• switch lights on
• APU bleed off and APU master switch off when engines are stabilized
• TCAS on TA/RA

You're pretty much ready to go, GPS will be working by the time you get to the designated runway.

As for the pushback, just do not delegate ATC comms to FO during the startup procedure.

Exactly. From entering cold and dark I am ready to taxi in under 3 minutes (assuming flightplan is already entered). I dont follow a checklist. I just do the above. Do it a few times and you will be up and running quite fast.

I dont want to be sitting there flicking switches and checking gauges for half hour when there is a world to explore.

[ThomseN_inc 1,128]

1 hour ago, sanh said:

Exactly. From entering cold and dark I am ready to taxi in under 3 minutes (assuming flightplan is already entered). I dont follow a checklist. I just do the above. Do it a few times and you will be up and running quite fast.

I dont want to be sitting there flicking switches and checking gauges for half hour when there is a world to explore.

Maybe you are using the wrong plane for that then? 

Sitting there, flicking switches is what its all about when you "fly" an Airbus isn't it?

[jcomm 5,910]

Devon,

even in the simplest type of aircraft - the ones I fly IRL - we go through the checklist sacredly. It's very important to also know what each and every button / lever / these days MCDU menu does, and in the Buses it is so so simplified 🙂

Alexis is dealing with an upcoming add-on for X-Plane, one that I would really love to have one day, at that level of detail, in MFS - The Classic B747-2xx by Felis.

Wow, talk about checklists, and having to do the "math" all by yourself ... 

Or... a detailed / realistic journey in the PMDG dc-6...

P.S.: I confess I don't understand a Word Not Allowed thing about that "Peschges VP4  Variometer" in the instrument panel of the Phoebus C 🙂

[Zcott 55]

I keep a checklist on an iPad beside me, and work through that. Something like this is really good:

https://flyuk.aero/assets/downloads/resources/checklists/UKV-PRD-A320-CHECKLIST-V4.pdf

It’s fairly straightforward to follow once you’ve done it a few times, but it can be quite daunting at first!

 

[MrFuzzy 2,118]

5 minutes ago, Zcott said:

I keep a checklist on an iPad beside me, and work through that. Something like this is really good:

https://flyuk.aero/assets/downloads/resources/checklists/UKV-PRD-A320-CHECKLIST-V4.pdf

It’s fairly straightforward to follow once you’ve done it a few times, but it can be quite daunting at first!

 

It's fun to do it once, maybe twice just for the sake of it... but in the sim many items are set as per checklist by default, such as parking brake, throttle, engine masters, spoilers, etc..

[Zcott 55]

4 minutes ago, MrFuzzy said:

It's fun to do it once, maybe twice just for the sake of it... but in the sim many items are set as per checklist by default, such as parking brake, throttle, engine masters, spoilers, etc..

Yes, a lot of the first part of the checklist is usually checking stuff is in the right position, which it always is. I’m more interested in the processes around when to put on particular lights, when to input specific things into MCDU, etc.