Fenix Autobrake Disconnect Upon Landing

[simmerluke 6]

Hi all

Whenever I land with autobrakes on, the Fenix always comes to a complete halt on the runway and I'm trying to find a way to disconnect them while still rolling.

With the PMDG 737 I quickly tap the toe brakes a couple of times which disconnects the autobrakes, but this doesn't seem to work for the Fenix.

Can anyone advise what the best/correct method is for this aircraft?

Thanks

[Andrew2448 218]

Same thing should work in an Airbus I believe, you just have to engage the manual brakes hard enough to exceed the current autobrake pressure. So your tap may not be registering enough brake pressure to disengage the autobrakes.

[polosim 858]

1 hour ago, simmerluke said:

correct method is for this aircraft?

Before 20 KT

AUTO BRK.............................................................................................. DISENGAGE  Disengage the autobrake to avoid some brake jerks at low speed.
The flight crew should use brake pedals to disengage the autobrake.

[Orlaam 319]

Pressing the manual brakes will disconnect the auto-brake and handover the braking to the PF.  This is something usually done around 60-80 knots.  You can also press the auto-brake button to disengage them.

[simmerluke 6]

Many thanks for the replies.

I have tried various different combinations of manual braking, from tapping (up to six or even more times) and pressing and holding the brakes (eventually this also causes the aeroplane to stop of course) without the autobrake disengaging. Still the only way to disengage it is to turn the autobrake off separately, which I would rather avoid if possible.

I will see if I can give this some further testing over the coming days, but am wondering if it might have something to do with the Airbus TCA quadrant with the autobrake switch still set to an 'on' position until physically moved to 'off'? (with the PMDG 737 I don't map the autobrake switch)

[Fiorentoni 4,381]

47 minutes ago, simmerluke said:

Many thanks for the replies.

I have tried various different combinations of manual braking, from tapping (up to six or even more times) and pressing and holding the brakes (eventually this also causes the aeroplane to stop of course) without the autobrake disengaging. Still the only way to disengage it is to turn the autobrake off separately, which I would rather avoid if possible.

I will see if I can give this some further testing over the coming days, but am wondering if it might have something to do with the Airbus TCA quadrant with the autobrake switch still set to an 'on' position until physically moved to 'off'? (with the PMDG 737 I don't map the autobrake switch)

You have to break harder than the autobrake breaks. Then it will disengage. If you are doing this, you probably have a key/button conflict somewhere. The Fenix itself works fine for this.

[simmerluke 6]

Thanks for this, will check my button assignments as well in the coming days.

[ConstVoid 111]

2 hours ago, simmerluke said:

I will see if I can give this some further testing over the coming days, but am wondering if it might have something to do with the Airbus TCA quadrant with the autobrake switch still set to an 'on' position until physically moved to 'off'? (with the PMDG 737 I don't map the autobrake switch)

Indeed that will be the problem. I don't know why Thrustmaster decided to use a rotary for that function - do any Airbuses use a rotary for autobrake?

Edit: Checked the actual assignments - I really shouldn't try to do this from memory.

I have mine mapped as follows:

Button24 - set autobrake med

Button23 - set autobrake lo

Button26 - set autobrake hi

This way if the rotary is moved to LO you get low autobrake and then you immediately move it back to BTV (which isn't assigned to anything) - this does not 'unset' the autobrake, just makes it so that it will be released when you commence manual braking.

Similarly to get medium autobrake you move it to 2 then 3, and to get autobrake max you move it to HI then 3.

I've been running like this since I first got the Thrustmaster and it always releases normally as soon as I hit the toe brakes.

Edited May 8 by ConstVoid
Corrected assignment description.

[simmerluke 6]

Cunning!

I'll see whether that makes a difference my end...

[simmerluke 6]

Hi Ian

I've now had a further play with this and, once I'd removed the default "Autobrake Disarm" assignment at the BTV position, it does seem to have solved it so many thanks for the suggestion. Just needs a slightly different mindset operating the physical switches which is really no problem.

As mentioned previously, I've never used the TCA autobrake switches with the PMDG 737, which is likely the reason I never had this problem with that aircraft but with this new information in mind and your comment about the rotating selector being a bit more 'Boeing' in nature I might explore this further. I don't believe PMDG make it quite so easy as Fenix do with default MSFS assignments however.

All the best