After entering the VOR1 data in RAD NAV including the correct CRS, what is the procedure/key presses for telling the A/P to use VOR1 for lateral navigation instead of GPS....and then later to go back to GPS ?  I see a VORD button on the EFIS but that's not doing it...thanks.  

You don't. You can program a radial or course from any waypoint into the MCDU, but rawdata flying by the Autopilot is not possible. If you want to follow a VOR course in raw data you have to do it yourself.

Why would you want to do that anyway? There are so many redundancies in the position monitors, flying VOR course is the last thing you would do in an Airbus. The probabability of all other navigation tools becoming inoperal is so tiny, that it will never happen. 

Edited February 19, 20242 yr by Farlis

Does it not work if you press the LOC button on the autopilot FCU? I thought you'd use that for LOC or VOR coupling?

Could be wrong on that!

To go back to NAV (IRS/GPS) you'd push the heading knob, to engage Managed Heading again.

Edited February 20, 20242 yr by JYW

1 hour ago, Farlis said:

You don't. You can program a radial or course from any waypoint into the MCDU, but rawdata flying by the Autopilot is not possible. If you want to follow a VOR course in raw data you have to do it yourself.

Why would you want to do that anyway? There are so many redundancies in the position monitors, flying VOR course is the last thing you would do in an Airbus. The probabability of all other navigation tools becoming inoperal is so tiny, that it will never happen. 

Understood.  I am very new to the Fenix A320 but not to navigation so this led me to the erroneous assumption that it is possible to navigate in "VOR mode" in this aircraft.  Still learning the capabilities of the aircraft, not that I have a need for it.  Thanks !

1 hour ago, JYW said:

Does it not work if you press the LOC button on the autopilot FCU? I thought you'd use that for LOC or VOR coupling?

Could be wrong on that!

To go back to NAV (IRS/GPS) you'd push the heading knob, to engage Managed Heading again.

Pressing LOC was the first thing I tried but as the name of the button suggests, this is dedicated to LOCalizer signals not VOR but tried it anyway.  I think Farlis's explanation above is it.

2 minutes ago, zachlog said:

Pressing LOC was the first thing I tried but as the name of the button suggests, this is dedicated to LOCalizer signals not VOR but tried it anyway.  I think Farlis's explanation above is it.

Ah, ok.

I guess raw data coupling is unnecessary when the IRS system can provide accuracy as high as raw data.

2 hours ago, zachlog said:

what is the procedure/key presses for telling the A/P to use VOR1 for lateral navigation

Just to expand a little about the good comments made by the other members of the forum.

Normally when flying a VOR route or a VOR or VOR DME approach, the NAV mode is used, however under certain circumstances a VOR approach will have to be flown in a RAW DATA way, in those cases it is common to use the TRACK/FPA option using the ND in rose VOR or rose ILS mode according to the type of approach that will be flown.
The approach is flown in TRK FPA when:

‐ The approach is not stored in the database or

‐ NAV accuracy is LOW.

With respect to the VORD button of the EFIS, this function is called:

Optional Data Display on ND

The ND displays the VORs and DMEs stored in the navigation database and the pilot stored navaids. The flight crew can only select one display at a time.

 

 

 

Like the others have said, the A320, unlike the 737, has never had a conventional VOR radial capture mode on the AP or FMS. The M11/717, rather unconventionally, has it in the FMS.

Edited February 20, 20242 yr by Ilari Kousa

Is this actually true in the real plane?  I've been flying for the airlines for 25 years and never knew this about the bus.  That's actually kind of hilarious.  😉

51 minutes ago, Stearmandriver said:

Is this actually true in the real plane? 

Yes, this is how you proceed on the real plane. If attempted approach is not available in the database, it must be done RAW DATA.

Some procedures are based on VORs e.g. CATH1 dep from KPSP. Flying this in managed mode, I've never been able to do it as per the chart. Hence I switched to VOR on the EFIS and flown in HDG mode. Am I doing this right?

19 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Some procedures are based on VORs e.g. CATH1 dep from KPSP. Flying this in managed mode, I've never been able to do it as per the chart. Hence I switched to VOR on the EFIS and flown in HDG mode. Am I doing this right?

Kinda'.   But what Polosim is saying above, is that you'd switch to TRK/FPA mode, which means the aircraft will follow track instead of heading.   In other words, winds and drift will be accounted for.

22 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Am I doing this right?

In this case that you decide to fly it in RAW DATA mode, it is recommended that you fly it with the FPV (bird on) using TRACK/FPA.

VOR tracking has been missing from most airliners with a capable FMS since the 1980's  - including the Boeing 757/767 and later products.  The 737 has it only because Boeing wants the FAA to believe it's still the same plane it launched in 1968.  There has also been a run-down of worldwide VOR stations, presumably to save costs in the presence of more modern navigation systems - with hindsight, a rather doubtful decision given the current rash of GPS spoofing events.

Why it absolutely does not matter that Airbus cannot directly couple to a VOR ground station

If an integrated IRS system (that assures it's accuracy by reference to GPS and ground stations) is actually more (or of equal) accuracy than tuning the ground station itself, then it's basically arbitrary and moot that the Aibus 'can't' directly couple to the VOR directly.

In other words, if an aircraft is commanded to track towards a VOR on a radial of 120 degrees and does so with >10 metres of accuracy, and another aircraft uses an IRS system with the same result, then why does it matter than the latter uses an alternative (more technologically advanced) method?   (Rhetorical question!).

I suspect VORs (and remaining NDBs) will be decommisioned in the next 10 years.  Their identifiers and locations will remain in navdata, but navigated to using their GPS locations, rather than by any tangible 'tuning' of them, from the air.     .....and I bet we won't even notice. 😉   I think GPS has proven itself well over the last 30 years it's been in the civil domain.

A few years ago I was driving close to Leeds in the UK and decided to go and 'find' the POL (Pole Hill) VOR.   It's not directly accessible but I got close - and could not believe the size and scale of these things, not to mention what it must cost to maintain and power them.

Pole Hill (POL) VOR, near Leeds, UK

Edited February 20, 20242 yr by JYW