A330 (and A320neo) roll deadzone

[FD1003]

Hello, I've always had this issue with both the A330 and the A320neo.

I have to move the stick about 1/10th of its total travel before I get any movement at all, this only happens in roll.

My setup:
0% deadzone on both the Virpil software and MSFS
0% sensibility (linear) in MSFS (can't change it in the Virpil software)
Don't use any external program for my imputs (i.e. Spad Next)

I had the same exact problem in the A320neo in MSFS2020 In the first video you can see the red line in the top left picture, that's my roll deflection in the stick, (blue is pitch) I got that using the Virpil testing software (VPC Joystick Tester Tool) In the very unlikely case this is intended, could I suggest giving the users a deadzone number that could be changed, like other competing products? Maybe there is and I didn't find it?

The inibuilds A320neo and A330 are the only aircraft that behave like this, I haven't tried in the A330, but the A320neo also only behaved like this when all of its flight computers were on, in Alternate Law, roll behaved as expected. I also fly in different flight simulators and I haven't encountered any other aircraft with this roll behaviour
 

In the first video, you can see on the top left corner, the blue line is pitch movement, and the red line is roll movement

 

Edited Friday at 12:26 PM by FD1003

[FD1003]

This also happens in the A400M 

 

[richboy2307]

Hi,

Regarding this issue, this was recently also addressed on our discord by my colleague. I'll quote the reply given on discord below (it is applicable to all the default airbus aircraft):

Quote

The FBW control response in the real aircraft is also not linear as the gains will change with deflection config etc.

The A400M has a normal law roll rate of 30 degrees per second so over 4x a normal A330 / A320 but so rolling and letting go might cause a small overshoot or a snap as the FBW has to try and arrest the roll momentum which is many times higher.

The real 320 also has a on centre deadness around the roll axis by design. It's to partly simulate what would be called the "deadband". It will not block your inputs but will give you a better on-centre control response over a set input the spoilers will deploy and cause a somewhat jump which is also felt on the real aircraft. Not the Airbus family but more discussion here: 

 

I would say if you are getting into a Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIO) with any Airbus I was given a tip when starting on the Airbus family, "less is more" and this goes for the A400M especially, given how quick the commanded roll is. If you think you need half stick use 1/4th if you think you need full use half, it tends to work much better as it gives time for the FBW to catch up. The A330 can be susceptible to this as well because of the slow roll rate.  Fun fact that normal rate max roll command being 7 degrees / s in the 320 / 330 was actually supposed to be 15 in but when set to 15 it caused some test pilots to PIO so it was reduced to 7. So the A400M being 30 gives you an idea of how easy it can be to get into that situation.

It's also why the real sticks are damped by the way. So it makes it harder to get into the PIO range. Damping is very non linear in pitch and roll it's also not linear but has a slower return to neutral if you let go of the stick.

Thanks!