[A300] Visual Circuits for Dummies

[Nix]

As the title says, this post is about how to perform visual circuits with our beloved Airbus A300-600. Before I continue any further, first a disclaimer:

I am not a real-life pilot of any kind, nor does this post represent any kind of standard operating procedures for the A300. This is simply my interpretation on how visual circuits should be flown, based on real life Boeing and Airbus procedures and adopted to work within the limitations of the simulator. I could not find any real-world references for the type, hence this post.

Introduction
Now with that out of the way let's start with what visual circuits are. If you are already familiar with them, please skip this section. Visual circuits, simply put, are traffic patterns ending with a visual approach and are used by real-world beginner airline pilots in order for them to get familiarized with an aircraft type - usually right after simulator training. It helps the pilots get a "feel" for the aircraft and this is exactly what I do in my sim when I am learning to fly a new aircraft type. It's a quick and easy way to practice: takeoffs, manual handling, approaches and landings, but without simulator "cheating" :D.

Before we jump into the cockpit, I would like to mention a very, very important flight principle which will help us with performing these maneuvers. Kids repeat after me:
"Pitch and power, equal performance."
If this is the first time you've heard this phrase, stick around this section as I explain it. The fore mentioned phrase practically says that if you know what attitude to hold and what power setting to have, you can control the airplane very easily.  For example, I will be giving you a set of pitch and engine powers settings which should help you reach the desire flight performance in different phases of flight. Please bare in mind that these are merely approximate values and can vary with between different simulators, aircraft weights, atmospheric conditions, etc. Mine were obtained using X-Plane 11.

Flight Preparation
In this section we will have a look at how the entire procedure will be flown. You can reference the figure below.

We will start of with the flight setup. For me this includes:

• TOW: 130T
• OAT: 15°C
• wind: calm
• trim: 1 DOWN
• Flap setting: 15/15
• Airfield: EGNX (can be anything really, I just chose this one 'cause of the custom scenery I have, but try to stick to fields that are not high - pressure alt.)
• QNH: 1013

The settings above should insure that the performance is similar to what's expected.

Takeoff
We will be starting on runway 09 fully ready for departure and with the following v-speeds:

• V1 148
• VR 149
• V2 151

Stabilize the engines and begin the takeoff roll with the engines set to approximately 94% percent N1. This should give you good enough acceleration and a descent, but not too steep, initial climb. Set the power by 100 knots and then call out "one hundred" to confirm that the airspeed is building and that the indicators are working properly - pretty standard stuff. At V1, hand of the throttles and at VR rotate smoothly 2 to 3 degrees per second - you should reach the takeoff attitude within about 10 seconds. At positive rate [of climb], retract landing gear and aim for about 10-12° pitch up. The speed should be settling down to somewhere around V2+15ish knots.

Climbout
Our circuits are to be flown at 1500 feet above ground level (AGL) and since EGNX has field elevation of around 300 feet, this gives us our target altitude at somewhere around 1800 feet, which you can set in the MCP. As you reach target altitude - vertical climb / 100, for example at 2000fpm climb start leveling off at 1800-200=1600ft, smoothly but surely start pitching down to a target pitch of about 2.5° and set N1 to somewhere around 64-67%. This will put you in straight and level flight with the flaps 15/15 configuration and doing about 180 knots indicated airspeed (IAS).

180 Turn for Downwind
After we have stabilized the airplane, we begin a gentle 20° bank to the left (we are doing left-hand circuits because I am flying in the left seat) for a left downwind for runway 09 to a heading of approximately 270 degrees. While in the turn keep your speed on the mark (180 kts) and on altitude (1800'). A pitch of about 3-5° up and a power setting of about 70% N1 should do the trick. This kind of turn will bring as on a reciprocal heading and between 2.5 - 3 nautical miles from the runway, which should now be at your left 10ish o'clock position. You can verify this on your HSI by measuring the distance between your airplane's datum and the airfield:

When established on downwind trim the airplane and keep your eyes on RWY 09 theshold. Once it's abeam your cockpit, ie. it's off to your left nine o'clock, start the timer - "chrono" function on the cockpit clock. When the clock shows 20 seconds has elapsed, bring your gear down and set the next flap setting - 15/20. Bring the gear down first which will due to drag have a tendency to pitch the nose down. Once that happens, you can set the flaps which will help balance this out. By now you should be slowing down to 160 knots flying straight and level. Don't forget to set auto-brake if you plan on stopping as well as to arm the spoilers.

Turning Base
Once the clock shows 45 seconds mark, start turning towards the base leg. We are looking at a 25° left bank with roughly 3-5° pitch up and a descent rate of about -400 feet/per minute. Upon reaching 90° of turn (heading 180°) set flaps to full 30/40 and decelerate to our final approach speed (VAPP) of 140 knots (135 + 5 knots wind correction). Keep that rate of descent as before!

Final Leg
Deciding when to turn on final is a bit tricky and requires some experience. There is a trick however: look for an extended (imaginary) runway centerline on the terrain in order to better judge when to make the turn.

Turn to final should be performed with a 25° left bank, 5° pitch up and with about N1 at 64%. You should be on speed (140 kts) with a descent rate of about -400fpm.
If everything went well you should be roughly aligned with the runway with PAPIs showing two reds and two whites. Now you can adjust the descent rate for a normal 3° glide. You can calculate your target vertical speed by dividing your ground speed (GS) by two and the multiplying the answer by 10. For example, 142kts GS / 2 * 10 = 710 fpm. You will achieve this by having your pitch at 2.5° nose up and N1 setting of 64%. Make small pitch adjustments and DO NOT chase the VSI! Remember the "pitch/power" mantra!

Landing
After you have hopefully 😇 found your self on a stable approach you should be ready to land any time now. At 500' AGL you should be on speed, on PAPIs, aligned with the runway and with engines spooled up - this is your gate for a stable approach. If any of these parameters are not met - go around! No questions discussion 😄.
At a 40 feet RA callout start a gentle flare of above 1 to 2 degrees up, retarding the throttles at the same time. I tend to looks at just in front of the touch down zone as it helps me with judging the flare. Some people say look down the far end of the runway, but this does not work for me personally - what ever floats your boats. Be careful not to pitch too much as the A300 likes to float, so caution should be exercised.

That's it! Now it's time for tea and medals.

I will be making a video of the entire procedure and posting it here at a latter stage - it should be a good supplement.

If you have any suggestions, corrections or improvements, please leave a comment.

Happy flying!

Nix