Airbus A320 family

Airbus A320 family
	; The 3d cockpit of the A320-family
Type	Airliner
Configuration	Low wing aircraft, Monoplane aircraft, Retractable gear aircraft, Tricycle landing gear aircraft
Propulsion	Twinjet (Jet aircraft, Twin-engine aircraft)
Manufacturer	Airbus
Author(s)	Josh Davidson (Octal450); legoboyvdlp; Nia; Matthew Maring (hayden2000); Thorsten Herrmann (TH-555); Semir Gebran (CaptB);
FDM	JSBSim
--aircraft=	A320-200-CFM; A320-200-IAE; A320neo-CFM; A320neo-PW
Status	Advanced production
FDM
Systems
Cockpit
Model
Supports
Development
Website
Repository
Download
License	GPLv2+
	v; t; e;

The Airbus A320 family is a series of twinjet narrowbody commercial passenger jets manufactured by Airbus Industrie. Designed for short to medium haul flights, the aircraft pioneered fly-by-wire technology and regularly competes with the Boeing 737 series. This is an accurate and complex recreation of the A320 family.

Main development is currently on hold awaiting restructuring, but fixes and minor improvements are still received from GitHub.

Overview

Includes:

A320-214 (CFM56)
A320-232 (IAE V2500)
A320-251N (CFM Leap)
A320-271N (PW1100G)

This aircraft is available from the launcher. If you want to install it manually, see the right InfoBox for the repository to download and remember to rename the aircraft's folder to "A320-family" after downloading if needed.

Development Team

Flight Dynamics: Josh Davidson (Octal450)
Systems, Instruments: Josh Davidson (Octal450), legoboyvdlp, Nia, Matthew Maring (hayden2000)
3D/Textures: Thorsten Herrmann (TH-555), Semir Gebran (CaptB)

Tutorial

Takeoff

Click "Aircraft > Configuration Center > Ready for takeoff" and wait for a while, then push the throttle in the 3D cockpit to TO/GA. When the airspeed exceeds Vr, pull back to rotate.

Climb

After takeoff, press [ to retract the flaps and g to retract the landing gear, allowing the aircraft to accelerate to a higher airspeed. If you climb to high altitudes (higher than 30000 ft / 9150 m), note that the max airspeed Vmo (shown on PFD) will decrease at higher altitudes.

Cruise

Once at cruising altitude, reduce the throttle to a suitable cruise setting. You can press v or shift+v to switch views and enjoy the scenery, and press ctrl+v to switch back to the cockpit.

Approach

Begin the approach by reducing throttle to idle or a low cruise setting. Extend the landing gear by pressing shift+g, and extend flaps gradually according to the aircraft's speed by pressing ]. Monitor the airspeed carefully; extending flaps and gear will increase drag and reduce speed.

Adjust pitch and throttle to keep the aircraft on the glideslope (click "View > Toggle glide scope tunnel" to enable it). Set the ILS frequency if available, or navigate visually to the runway heading. Maintain a stable descent rate, typically 500-800 feet per minute for most airliners.

Landing

When the runway is in sight and the aircraft is properly aligned, continue descending toward the threshold. As the aircraft approaches the runway, reduce throttle to idle and begin the flare by gently pulling back on the stick just above the runway. The main landing gear should touch down first, followed by the nose gear.

After touchdown, deploy spoilers if available and apply reverse thrust if equipped. Brake as needed to slow the aircraft to taxi speed. Retract flaps and turn off landing lights once clear of the runway.

After Landing

Taxi to the parking position at a safe speed. Set the parking brake (by pressing shift+b), shut down engines, and turn off electrical systems in the configuration dialog (Aircraft > Configuration Center).

Notices

Warning lights

Monitor the yellow (CAUTION) or red (WARNING) lights on the instrument panel. If they appear, immediate actions are required.

Fly-by-Wire

Compared to other yoke-controlled aircrafts, the fly-by-wire system of A320 has several different characteristics:

Sidestick is not linked: The captain and first officer sidesticks move independently. You cannot feel what the other pilot is doing.
No autotrim: The aircraft trims automatically. Do not attempt manual trim.
Release returns to neutral: Releasing the sidestick centers it, but the aircraft holds its current attitude.
Flight envelope protection: The system prevents stalls, excessive bank angles, and overloads. You may feel a "hard stop" when limits are reached.
Thrust levers have detents: Use the physical detents (TO/GA, FLX/MCT, CL, IDLE) rather than smooth movement. Leave levers in CL during autothrust operation.

Using the selector knobs on the FCU

The flight control unit (FCU) is the panel on the glareshield that contains controls for the auto flight system, electronic flight information system (EFIS) screens and other systems. It contains various selector knobs that rotate. Some knobs can also be pushed or pulled in order to change modes or other settings.

Turning, pushing or pulling FCU knobs with a mouse
	Left click	Middle click *	Right click	Scroll Up	Scroll Down
Normal (no modifier keys)	Push	Pull	---	Turn clockwise	Turn counterclocwise
While holding `⇧ Shift` key	Pull	Pull	---	Turn clockwise (10× faster)	Turn counterclockwise (10× faster)

* On many setups, the scroll wheel of a mouse can be used as a middle button by pressing directly down on the wheel.

Note: This section describes how to physically manipulate controls within the cockpit. Details about what the controls do, when they should be used, etc., are beyond the scope of this section.

Gallery

Rain effect (March 2020)
The cockpit

External links

Airbus A320 family

Contents

Overview

Development Team