1 hour ago, RobJC said:

One thing I find extremely helpful is i have a default flight i use to test every plane out. For the Citation, Fenix, 777F and A350 it is KDEN to KLAX. I use the same SIDs and STARs and time compression to shorten up the long stretches. I know the waypoints, and understand exactly what should happen when. It is my shakedown flight. Usually within a flight or two i have sorted out whatever issues i was having, and then i try new routes to make sure i have it down. In the A350 my two shakedown flights went great, and had autoland going as well. Now i am just working through some other situations, like i totally stuffed above lol. 

Yes, a (familiar) test route is very useful in the SIM. In fact, I think most of us have a such a Route to test new a/c or/and their ILS capabilities. 

Good luck.

Since FSX times, mine were these two:

1. KSEA->CYVR (The default starting airport in FSX was KSEA 34R)
2. LOWS->LSGG (or vice versa)

OK - it is me.  It always was, and it still is  . 

I did as @RobJC suggests above and did a flight I have done many times - EGKK (London Gatwick) to EBOS (Ostend)

Everything went absolutely swimmingly - the approach followed the green spot all the way down...until I was down to around 1700 feet and then the A350 just levelled out and flew beautifully in line with, but 1700 feet above, Runway 26 in Ostend!   I clearly am not triggering ILS correctly.

 

I'll have another look at the manual and videos and have another go this evening 👍    

Edited February 23Feb 23 by AJZip2

6 minutes ago, RobJC said:

haha true but I don't attribute that debacle to an ILS issue. The A350 was trying to get me to fly further out to make room to get lower, but oh no I knew better lol. So I would say I have had maybe 7 or 8 flights and except for the unfortunate passengers of DAL007 everything else has been solid on the ILS front. This is such a great plane. 

That’s the way to handle it! When flying Airbus, I’ve found that the inclusion in the FMC of a MANUAL segment and a discontinuity prior to the start of your approach is quite customary. It’s funny that in so many tutorials about how to fly various airliners, the appearance of a discontinuity is viewed as an anomaly that must be dealt with by a deletion to tie waypoints together. But with the Airbus, this kind of discontinuity is more like a placeholder indicating some action (e.g., proceeding in Heading mode and following vectors until sufficient altitude is bled off) is required before starting the approach. Good luck!

Rich

I have to say, by the way, that in spite of not being able to achieve an assisted landing yet, I'm LOVING this aircraft!

2 hours ago, AJZip2 said:

Well, interestingly, it has indeed been 27R at EGLL I've been trying to land at!!!!
 

Thank you for giving me hope that it's not - OK, not all - user error on my part 😊

Yes, for sure, that EGLL Runway 27R ILS frequency, I had to manually set via the RAD/NAV page (for one or more reasons, in my case), but then, it worked beautifully. 

You can either do Autoland like @RobJC seems to be (expertly) doing (btw, that reminds me, I need to do Autoland again in the A350; I have not done it a while in the A350), or just disable AP1 a few hundred feet prior to touchdown, and gently fly this behemoth down to the runway threshold...should be no issues...

Good luck.

Edited February 23Feb 23 by P_7878

6 minutes ago, P_7878 said:

Yes, for sure, that EGLL Runway 27R ILS frequency, I had to manually set via the RAD/NAV page (for one or more reasons, in my case), but then, it worked beautifully. 

You can either do Autoland like @RobJC seems to be (expertly) doing (btw, that reminds me, I need to do Autoland again in the A350; I have not done it a while in the A350), or just disable AP1 a few hundred feet prior to touchdown, and gently fly this behemoth down to the runway threshold...should be no issues...

Good luck.

It's the getting down to that few hundred feet that's my current challenge!  I've now hand-landed it so many times after a non-voluntary go-around that I'm getting quite good at that bit 

49 minutes ago, AJZip2 said:

It's the getting down to that few hundred feet that's my current challenge!  I've now hand-landed it so many times after a non-voluntary go-around that I'm getting quite good at that bit 

Then you’re all set.

Once you ensure that the ILS Runway 27R indicators are properly seen on PFD/ND, then, under ILS guidance, the plane should fly itself nicely down the glide path, to the point, where you can take over the control.

Turn on the HUD, for whatever it’s worth, for additional visual guidance, though, there are some inaccuracies with it, as I understand.

Edited February 23Feb 23 by P_7878

2 hours ago, AJZip2 said:

OK - it is me.  It always was, and it still is  . 

I did as @RobJC suggests above and did a flight I have done many times - EGKK (London Gatwick) to EBOS (Ostend)

Everything went absolutely swimmingly - the approach followed the green spot all the way down...until I was down to around 1700 feet and then the A350 just levelled out and flew beautifully in line with, but 1700 feet above, Runway 26 in Ostend!   I clearly am not triggering ILS correctly.

 

I'll have another look at the manual and videos and have another go this evening 👍    

On that approach after reaching Top of the Climb I would set the ALT to 2000 feet based on the charts, and do a managed descent (it will say DESC and not OP DESC) on the MFD STARTING AT THE TOD. Then right as you enter the approach phase of the flight activate the approach in the FMS, click the APPR button, and click LS near the Altitude. Then sit back and watch. It will autoland on its own for the most part. This will be my next flight. I will let you know if I see anything strange!    

2 hours ago, P_7878 said:

Then you’re all set.

Once you ensure that the ILS Runway 27R indicators are properly seen on PFD/ND, then, under ILS guidance, the plane should fly itself nicely down the glide path, to the point, where you can take over the control.

Turn on the HUD, for whatever it’s worth, for additional visual guidance, though, there are some inaccuracies with it, as I understand.

@AJZip2

BTW, here is how my PFD/ND looked like, for EGLL ILS Runway 27R (110.30), when the A350 is (well) established on the glide path:

Okay I did EGKK (London Gatwick) to EBOS (Ostend). It landed fine of runway 26 using ILS. Maybe a little high but not too bad. 

 

 

1 hour ago, RobJC said:

Okay I did EGKK (London Gatwick) to EBOS (Ostend). It landed fine of runway 26 using ILS. Maybe a little high but not too bad. 

 

 

A nice little milk-run trip....in the A350...🙂...

Congrats...!

(Now, go fly “EGKK to not EBOS but KBOS”…🙂…with your A350.)

Edited February 24Feb 24 by P_7878

7 hours ago, P_7878 said:

Yes, a (familiar) test route is very useful in the SIM. In fact, I think most of us have a such a Route to test new a/c or/and their ILS capabilities. 

Good luck.

Since FSX times, mine were these two:

1. KSEA->CYVR (The default starting airport in FSX was KSEA 34R)
2. LOWS->LSGG (or vice versa)

Mine are KDEN->KLAX, KSNA->KSAN, KLAX->KSFO. For smaller planes KAPA->KCOS. BTW, the A350 has been rock solid. Not one glitch. When you said you had so many hours with it trouble-free, it just got me curious. The Fenix is my #1 choice but this A350 is definitely second. I did an RNAV landing and it was good as well. 

Next up I need to work on what happens when ATC gives me instructions outside what I planned for. This is a big weak spot. I also need ALTN and HOLD work, plus Go Around. Right now I am pretty good if i can follow the original flight plan, and lost when i can’t. I just don’t know the procedures. 

Successfully did a HOLD. I don't know if this is normal, but the FMS of the A350 inserted the HOLD automatically into the flight plan. All I had to do was direct the plane to the HOLD waypoint and it went there and just started doing laps. Very cool. But the charts wanted me to go to another waypoint first, and then turn towards the HOLD waypoint. I wasn't sure how to execute that. Do I just direct to the first waypoint (which was in light blue like the other HOLD waypoints) and then it will know to turn to the HOLD? I basically cut out one waypoint. Also, when I exited the hold and asked for an approach change, the ATC vectored me onto final, but they asked me to increase my ALT from 2000 to 3600 and I just couldn't get up and down fast enough without taking over the plane. I did get down hand flying it, but I could tell I was too high initially to allow the AP to get me down. I was running on fumes and didn't want to do another missed approach. 

This was coming into KLAX on runway 25L. Instead of flying straight to ZERAN i basically cut across and went straight to CATLY. I know, wrong. Was I supposed to DIR to ZERAN after I missed the approach? So many questions. Another one. I didn't call for a missed approach until I got to the HOLD (I was sort of busy). I guess I was supposed to tell ATC immediately I was missing the approach, but would they have vectored me to the HOLD? Because the charts say on a missed approach to go to the HOLD. 

Edited February 24Feb 24 by RobJC

Well, little by little! 

Last night I finally captured the ILS!!  Then, halfway through the descent, lost it again and it auto powered up and held the altitude it had got to  .   I'm pretty sure that it was something in my speeds/configuration/etc it wasn't happy about and so will try again this evening.  The flight was EGKK Gatwick to EBBR Brussels this time to be able to incorporate a 'proper' STAR.  

But nevertheless pleasing progress (maybe not for the passengers as they must be thinking that they would have got to Brussels quicker if they'd just started walking away from the Gatwick terminal in the broad direction of Belgium).

But a broader question to you wise sages:

It is very unclear to me, despite having watched a crazy number of videos of landing the A350, what I should be doing with the Alt control during descent.  This is my current understanding:

- I am aware that the Airbus needs 'prompting' to begin the descent, either by changing ALT or V/S and pressing ALT into 'managed' mode

- In managed mode, all other things (speed, etc) being in the correct ranges, the glide slope is captured and the green dot sits in the middle of the altitude bar as the aircraft dutifully follows the glide path.

But what is needed from the pilot in terms of the actual ALT value?  Is it a case of winding down to each next way point height as you pass the previous one?  Or should you wind ALT down to the final approach height pre-ILS (c2500/3000ft) at the very beginning of the descent? 

I think what I am asking is, in terms of altitude, just how much 'managed' is 'managed mode' - is it still waiting for the pilot to basically tell the aircraft what to do at each stage? 

Edited February 24Feb 24 by AJZip2

Ignore the above (probably)!  Thank goodness for the 'Autosave' function.

I just repeated the Approach from last night's flight...and this time I was able to keep ILS engaged...all the way down to 500 feet, and then disengaged Autopilot and did a landing that got me a 'Nice Landing' comment from FSRealistic!!!!!  

I'm still interested what folks do with the ALT mentioned above but, for what it's worth, for this landing:

- A few miles before TOD, I turned the ALT down to the ILS entry altitude for EBBR (2000') and then pushed for 'Managed' descent, keeping my eye on speed ref capturing and keeping on the descent path.

- Shortly before the final turn, I 'Activated' the approach on the flightdeck computer and followed the Flaps prompts

- I then pressed the APPR button on the FCDU

- I turned Autothrottle OFF so that I could properly be in control of speed during ILS

- ILS was captured

- I progressively dropped the flaps to full

- Turned Autopilot OFF at around 500'

- put in a manual very light flare at around 30'

- touched down and applied reverse thrust

- I was able to turn off the runway around the halfway mark

I'm going to go and have a long rest in a darkened room!!