Throttles calibration for Bravo too erratic. Also autopilot doesn’t kick in for some reason

[mjk62]

I have had several failures getting the A320 off the ground successfully. First off I am struggling to get the throttles to calibrate well on my Bravo quadrant. It is hard to gauge where to put it for the various settings - climb, flex take off, reverse max and reverse idle, etc. I have to guestimate where to set the throttles as there are no click points on the quadrant so it is pure luck if I get it right. Secondly, once I have taken off, I have not been able to get the plane to react to the autopilot/flight plan or restricted speed constraints. The plane just wildly and erratically decides to keep accelerating way beyond speed limits I have put in the flight computer. It also fails to follow the flight plan, even though I can see that these are shown on the PFD. I must be doing something wrong but, at the moment, I have given up on using this version of the A320

[richboy2307]

On 7/29/2024 at 9:24 PM, mjk62 said:

First off I am struggling to get the throttles to calibrate well on my Bravo quadrant. It is hard to gauge where to put it for the various settings - climb, flex take off, reverse max and reverse idle, etc. I have to guestimate where to set the throttles as there are no click points on the quadrant so it is pure luck if I get it right.

Hi @mjk62, 

I am also using the BravoTQ with this plane and do not face any unsurmountable issues in using this aircraft. We acknowledge that there could be improvements, particularly around larger or user-definable deadzones around each detent in the calibration tool which we will look to implement in a future update if possible. However as it stands, I calibrate roughly using the printed lines for guidance. 

I centre the base of the Throttle Lever between each marked position, and set that as the required detent position on the EFB. So for example in the shot below, I'm between the two marked lines, and have set this as CLB detent on the EFB Calibration tool when its placed here. 

In between the lines further ahead I would set it as FLX/MCT, and full forward as TOGA. Likewise full back as IDLE, and have set REVERSE ON AXIS = NO.

 

On 7/29/2024 at 9:24 PM, mjk62 said:

Secondly, once I have taken off, I have not been able to get the plane to react to the autopilot/flight plan or restricted speed constraints. The plane just wildly and erratically decides to keep accelerating way beyond speed limits I have put in the flight computer.

This may be caused by a multitude of things. Part of which might be that you're not in the proper modes, owing to the the throttles not being moved in the proper detents. Alternatively it could be due to incomplete information on your MCDU. In order to use the managed modes, all information on the INIT A and INIT B pages must be filled correctly, as well as on the PERF page (takeoff).

I can only make guesses as to whats wrong without proper screenshots/video clip of what you're noticing, however rest assured that this is not particularly an aspect of the plane that falls short and most the issues you are having can be resolved by improved proper operating techniques.

It does require some patience, especially if you haven't used any Airbus aircraft before, but once you've used one, you've used them all as the philosophy and ideas remain largely the same. I will also recommend going through some tutorials on Youtube that can further detail how to operate this aircraft.

Thanks!

[mjk62]

Many thanks for replying. 

I will endeavour to take your advice. I think I understand the throttle quadrant issue better now. It requires some adjustments re calibration and creating a specific profile for the inibuilds A320 helps.

As for the fmc/autopilot problems, I've played around with A320 models by other designers and think it is most likely a "new" to Airbus issue 

Thanks again for your help