iniBuilds A300-600 has been released! (reopened)

[nikolajz1]

I like the plane. Only real issue I'm having is it sometimes stops turning on autopilot when it's a long turn at altitude. Had a 100 degree rightward turn over Japan yesterday and halfway through it decided to stop and I needed to use the DIR TO function to get NAV working again.

[james_d]

Anyone know how to get a Thurstmaster TCA throttle's reverse working with this? The config tool in the tablet doesn't work nicely with it. Any time you go to idle you end up in reverse 

[Dreamflight767]

18 minutes ago, james_d said:

Anyone know how to get a Thurstmaster TCA throttle's reverse working with this? The config tool in the tablet doesn't work nicely with it. Any time you go to idle you end up in reverse 

I was just at their discord channel, this is being discussed with a work around.  I'm not savvy enough to provide a link but there is a picture associated.  

[regis9]

Did two cargo flights last night and generally I’m quite enjoying it.  Feels nice and heavy, generally flies well and the EFB integration is well done.

I do wish they would decouple instant fueling from aircraft damage wear and tear.  I don’t always want to wait for fuel, but I want to use the wear and tear functionality.  There is a button that says complete fueling now or something like that but when I use that it doesn’t put the right amount of fuel in the tanks.

The only other issue I had was actually a duplicate from the A310 in that the steering tiler doesn’t work well, it doesn’t provide a constant turn and “stutters” back and forth for lack of a better description.  This is with a separate tiller hardware.  Steering with the rudders works fine.

38 minutes ago, james_d said:

Anyone know how to get a Thurstmaster TCA throttle's reverse working with this? The config tool in the tablet doesn't work nicely with it. Any time you go to idle you end up in reverse 

The trick I used was to put my throttles just above idle and set that as the idle point.  The calibration tool seems to be just slightly off.

50 minutes ago, nikolajz1 said:

I like the plane. Only real issue I'm having is it sometimes stops turning on autopilot when it's a long turn at altitude. Had a 100 degree rightward turn over Japan yesterday and halfway through it decided to stop and I needed to use the DIR TO function to get NAV working again.

I had the same issue once last night climbing on a SID out of KONT.

2 hours ago, MikeyOnTheFlightDeck said:

Can anyone suggest some good and realistic routes to fly with this bird?  Most current ones seem to be freight only which is great, but any good passenger examples or ways of looking up the history of some routes that used to be operational?

I think the only active passenger carriers are Iran Air and Air Mahan.

[james_d]

Ini used to have a great resource of routes on their discord in the XP days but that seems to have disappeared. I’m doing lots of EAS/DHL European routes 
 

As others have said it’s very enjoyable. Heavy feeling. Found rudder control a little tough but maybe I need to adjust my sensitivity through settings 

[Tuskin38]

I also recommend https://flightsimdispatch.com/ for finding historical routes.

Outside of that I just use flightaware/flightradar24 for current routes.

[BrammyH]

Overall, I like the plane but it has a serious issue where sometimes if you go DIR, or change an approach, the WASM module crashes and the plane becomes inoperable. Ini is still working on even identifying why this is happening.

Also, I do not like the Navigraph section of the EFB. I can't find a way to pin charts. You have to use the arrow keys on the EFB to pan around the map. Also, your plane's position on the charts is sometimes not accurate.

[Merawen]

Is there a Landing Performance Calculator Website/App/Excel that supports the A300?

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Merawen

[Farlis]

1 hour ago, BrammyH said:

Also, I do not like the Navigraph section of the EFB. I can't find a way to pin charts. You have to use the arrow keys on the EFB to pan around the map. Also, your plane's position on the charts is sometimes not accurate.

I agree. That integration is pretty shoddy and needs some work in the future. Preferably one like the UFT of PMDG has where you can also see your Enroute Chart and use it as a Safetaxi Option.

[ThomseN_inc]

Is it normal that after engine start at idle the N1 and N2 are oscillating slighty up and down? 

[Starlifter60]

So far I'm loving this plane. Love me some old school. I'm struggling a bit with the "FMC" in terms of discontinuities, etc... I'm pretty well versed on Boeing FMCs but that only carries me so far. Does anyone know of a tutorial that addresses the correct procedures for route programming? 

[Farlis]

5 minutes ago, Starlifter60 said:

So far I'm loving this plane. Love me some old school. I'm struggling a bit with the "FMC" in terms of discontinuities, etc... I'm pretty well versed on Boeing FMCs but that only carries me so far. Does anyone know of a tutorial that addresses the correct procedures for route programming? 

 

[Bob Scott]

Well, my first flight in the A300-600F ended up rather poorly...trying to enter a direct-to in the FMS hit the plane like an AMRAAM missile.  I ended up on the ground thrashing like an alligator doing a death roll with a mouth full of prey. 

Second flight went better, but I noted the following issues:

Sounds--the volume and balance between engines and environment is pretty boogered-up.  The interior engine sounds are really loud at idle (like as if you're standing next to the pylon outside), then the engine volume decreases significantly as you power up to takeoff power, and then it almost vanishes as you climb through the teens.  When you reduce power back to low/idle power in a descent, the engine sound comes roaring back in.  The sounds themselves are good, but the weird volume and mixing really detracts.  The A310 suffers the same issues, but since this one isn't suffering from the curse of MS marketplace encryption, maybe FTSIM+ or someone else can get hold of it and fix this.

Flight dynamics--severely underpowered performance at altitude.  Climb performance is largely a function of thrust-to-weight ratio.  A fully loaded 747-400 with four of the same CF6 engines as the A300 has a thrust-to-weight ratio of ~0.26, and can climb through the high 20s at 2000-3000 fpm.  Contrast that to a 280,000 lb A300 with a MUCH higher thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.43--the A300 should be able to climb at 3000-4000+ fpm through the high 20s, not the really wimpy 700-800 fpm I'm seeing.

Autothrottle control--the A/T stayed stuck in TOGA mode despite the TRP displaying climb mode.  TRP target was 101.4%, but the throttles were at the stops with N1 at 104.2%, overboosting the daylights out of those poor CF6s.

Simbrief import--as far as I can tell, only the cargo/fuel load is downloaded from the Simbrief plan, and only into the EFB tablet.  The flight plan route does not come down--has to all be loaded into the FMS by hand.

Documentation--really sparse.  If you don't already have some idea how to fly one of these jets, you're not gonna get it from the manual.  And if you're wanting to bind buttons and axes to sim controls, you're left to guess what controls to use.  I still can't find the throttle "go levers" described in the checklist...

 

On the plus side, the autopilot is one of the smoothest I've seen in MSFS--better than the Fenix A320 and WAY better than the PMDG 737.  The modelling of the cargo bay and doors is pretty neat, and loading/unloading interfaces well with GSX, except that the main cargo door isn't handled automatically like the other two.

I'm optimistic about its future, but it does still need some work.

[Zangoose]

10 minutes ago, Bob Scott said:

Simbrief import--as far as I can tell, only the cargo/fuel load is downloaded from the Simbrief plan, and only into the EFB tablet.  The flight plan route does not come down--has to all be loaded into the FMS by hand.

On the FMS - Click Menu button > ACARS > Simbrief Request and it will import your flight plan into the FMS. 

[sd_flyer]

Wasn't 310 had  "rain wipe effect" with wipers that actually wipe rain? Oddly enough no such feature in 300