Getting familiar with the excellent A310 from iniBuild. It's certainly different from the A320 that I've become quite familiar with, with its mix of old and new systems (first service in 1983). Some noteworthy facts, courtesy of iniBuild's intro video:

• first aircraft to incorporate a glass cockpit (CRT screens)
• first wide-body airliner to use only two pilots (as opposed to three or four)
• first Airbus to introduce the "lights out concept" (white lights on the overhead are in the "wrong" position)

It also features an early version of managed climb and descent mode ("VNAV"), which is somewhat rougher around the edges than the more modern implementations found in A320s and B737s. 

It has a range of 12,000km/5000nm/12hrs and 238 passenger seats. The max take-off weight is 153,000kg/337,307lbs, and it's ICAO/FAA-classified as a "heavy" airliner (MTOW >300,000lbs). 

After a few test flights around the LA area, I did my first full flight from Canberra, Australia (YSCB) to Gold Coast (YBCG), 500nm. The next full flight was from Entebbe, Uganda (on the shore of Lake Victoria), to Djibouti (HUEN-HDAM). Some facts about Djibouti: it's a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east.

I've completed a GA round the world trip, and I got the idea to do the second world tour in the A310, starting and ending in Uganda, going eastbound. 

Hence this flight from Djibouti to Dubai became the 2nd leg on the world tour. 2660nm and 06hrs 14min completed; many more nautical miles and hours to go! Hopefully I'll get more and more proficient with the aircraft as the world tour progresses, in terms of the different workflows and checklists. I highly recommend the iniBuild's tutorial series which are divided into two parts: a) unfamiliar with airliners and b) already familiar with airliner operations. 

The actual flight went really well, but I find that a bit more planning is required vs. the A320, especially in terms of descent planning. Although iniBuild's "VNAV" implementation is quite good, the aircraft has a tendency to end up a bit high and fast. 

I did plan for a CATIII autoland coming into Dubai ILS 30L, and the aircraft managed this quite well (it was a little too high on final approach). One thing to consider is to disengage the autopilot before vacating the runway. I mapped the key "Q" for "autopilot off". Two presses will silence the alarm. I completed the flight with a full shutdown flow and checklist at the gate. 

Note: My previous screenshot threads have been with ReShade enabled. Unfortunately with SU11, entering the menu with ReShade active will make the display go black. Hence, these screenshots are without ReShade. 

 

 

Edited November 20, 20223 yr by Cpt_Piett

Excellent shots! 🙂 

Nice set from our 40th anniversary A310 !

cheers 😉

Fantastic shots Cpt!  I was especially interested in seeing the cockpit, thanks.  It's like I remember it when I worked them, kind of like a logical progression to more advanced avionics which is my favorite part of desktop simulators.

2 hours ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

It's like I remember it when I worked them

Oh you worked with those aircraft, that must bring back memories! It’s a challenging aircraft to learn I find - but great fun.

2 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Oh you worked with those aircraft, that must bring back memories! It’s a challenging aircraft to learn I find - but great fun.

Yes sir, really good memories because it was the first Airbus product I worked on.  I loved the electronics bay because it was very intuitive, it was shaped like a U so it was easy to access the avionics racks and wires.

Glad you're exploring the A310 classic, Piett....certainly worthwhile...

Very nice set of pictures...and thanks for the notes...!!