Hi,

This may be more related to the A321 CEO in general, and not the FSL, but that's the one I bought so...

I have done 2 flights now and I've noticed that the plane has issues getting above FL230 on both occasions (Simbrief planned for FL350, as if that was ever going to happen...).
I couldn't even make the minimum altitude of FL200 on the MEDA1A SID departing from LSGG RWY22. I have never before missed a minimum with a jet, at any weight!

My TOW was 74600 kg (out of a MTOW of 93500 kg). Does this bird even get off the ground at MTOW? 🙂

Anyway, is this normal? Is this a flying sitting duck? 🙂 Or am I missing something entirely? Coming from the Toliss A321 neo in X-Plane I'm somewhat dumbfounded.

Thanks.

Sounds strange and even more at that weight. Its a real slow climber but at that weight i suspect a weather input or other problem ( like gear down or so)

Michael Moe 

Edited January 28, 20251 yr by Michael Moe

I have to admit to a couple of times having flaps 1/2 still out at transition in the 737. Wondering why I'm so slow... Face palm for sure. 

I am kind of proficient flying an Airbus though, and the ECAM would tell me if I forgot flaps, speed brakes, gear, etc...

I remember the Fenix A320 had an issue at release that the pushback cart could still be hanging on the gear, MSFS-internally, not visually, leading to obvious issues. I'll skip pushback next time and see if that changes anything.

Was there any icing on the wings? This can severely impair the climb rate.

Check that your spoilers aren't deployed. The FSL has quirky calibration for flight controls.

Yeah, check to see if you had icing.  That greatly impacts things on the climb.  It also climbs pretty sluggish in general (A321, not FSLabs specific).

I second the recommendation to check for occult controller bindings leading to unexpected deployment of spoilers or other controls that add drag or degrade lift.

For flight control problems or gross performance abnormalities in MSFS, always check to make sure there aren't any spurious commands being sent to the aircraft.

Mine climbs per the SimBrief OFP predictions at a similar TOW. The A321 is a slow climber compared to the 737 and would fare badly in high-altitude combat.

What happens without add-ons and the Clear Skies preset?

 

Wing ice was the culprit! My climb performance was plummeting again, I then enabled wing anti-ice and it jumped up. Now I have no issue reaching FL350, though as expected, the A321 ceo is not a neo 🙂 But it's fine now.

Thanks for the input everyone. Appreciated.

 

On 1/29/2025 at 9:32 PM, hevokpilot said:

 Now I have no issue reaching FL350, though as expected, the A321 ceo is not a neo 🙂 But it's fine now.

 

Not sure what you expect from an A321 neo. The "neo" has been all about more efficiency, reduced emissions and fuel savings, not about more raw engine power. The A321 neo, at least in real life, climbs just about as sluggish as the ceo, and depending on the actual engine rating even worse than that (e. g. with PW1130G or LEAP-1A30 engines which have climb profiles optimized for fuel savings rather than high climb rates)

Edited April 22, 20251 yr by bpcw001