Airbus trepidation... convince me otherwise!

[Captain Morgan]

Not to sound like a nerd, but if you take a joystick and Microsoft Flight Simulator, controlling the Airbus behaves pretty much the same way. You are commanding rate of pitch and roll rather than bank. I am not partial to the plane's philosophy but I do think it's the best for pilot comfort and it makes a long FT/DT trip go by much more painless.

 

[macdu]

However, in the Captain's favor was Alpha Max was not disabled. Thus, the airplane went into the woods wings
level at*****a flying angle of attack under control. The airplane did not stall; the airplane did not fall off on one wing
and the airplane did not impact the ground in an usual attitude - which, almost certainly, would have resulted in
more than three fatalities.

To this day, 23 years later, the Captain still blames Airbus and the engine manufacturer, claiming the engines failed to spool
up. Yup, and Buddy McBroom still blames the fuel gauges!!!!!

What's the moral of the story? 1) Airbus builds a fantastic airplane - but you have to read and understand the
AFM. If you're going to go fly an airplane that has CATIIIb autoland capability, I'd strongly suggest that you at least
read the Manual before your first attempt at flying one!!!!!!!

Questions for discussion: 1)*****How many members of*****RETUP know*****whether speed is "on the throttle" or
speed is "on the elevator?" If you don't know or you*****say, "WHAT?" or "HUH?" - *****you're in trouble - Airbus and Boeing!
2) Why do the throttles sometimes go to IDLE and airplane goes above the path on a VNAV PATH descent?

Thanks for your time, guys. And, rather than knock Airbus, I'd recommend a little humility. And, I should also add that
the Airbus uses "dissimilar redundancy" in the engineering design of its cockpit. The Captain's side of the cockpit
uses the equivalent of a Windows computer running on Intel chips and the F/O's side uses an Apple computer
running on the old Motorola or IBM chips. Also different and independent design teams wrote the flight control laws and the ELAC
(elevator and aileron computer) programs and the SEC (spoiler/elevator) computer laws. This was done to prevent a design error from "carrying
over" to the other side of the cockpit.

The Airbus and Boeing airplanes are both outstanding, but comparing them is a fruitless exercise. Which is "better?" a Ford or a Chevy?
Which is "better?" a 707 or a DC-8? Which is "better?" an asphalt road or a concrete road?

And I'll get on my soapbox for a minute here: When I was an A320 LCA, not only did I get ENOTES from pilots I'd never met and from
out-of-domicile places (LAX, SFO and SEA) asking me to do their IOES, but I only had one IOE failure - a A320 Captain with a severe
attitude problem. He blamed everything on the airplane. Unbelievably, he was former Navy F-8 pilot. Knowing how to fly was not
his problem; accepting his own refusal to learn/know the FMAs was. He went back to TK and whether he ate his humble pie or not, I don't
know as I went to the B777 right afterwards. And I had numerous pilots sign the matting of my retiring photo: "Thanks for the great IOE!"
Not too many pilots get that!!!! Off my soapbox.

 

[macdu]

For full disclosure I did not write preceding posts. It was sent to me by a friend. I believe it is authored by a UAL check pilot. I have spent 7 years on the plane and it was a very insightful and educational piece. Hope you enjoy it, and the plane as much as I (did) as I am now on the 75/76

 

[Metrojet]

When you transition to it could you speed up the taxi. Thanks.

That was a classic!
But as aa73 siad - it is a year and halif away!

 

[SLUF4]

It seems to me that the people always complaining about Airbus are the ones that have no experience with it. They see the video of the plane going into the trees and think it was computer error, but the pilot was something like 200 feet lower than planned. The jet just wouldn't allow him to stall it into the ground as he was trying to pull up. The bus is a different animal for sure, but I enjoyed my time on it. And yes you can turn off all the automation and fly it like any other airplane. That being said, the tricky things are crosswind landings and the FMS is a little different than other planes. I like the autothrust system and not having to trim all the time. And I really like the ECAM a lot. In an abnormal you just do what it says on the screen. I wish the 757/767 had some of the features of the bus. I miss the table too.

 

[808pilot]

MACDU... that's pretty spot on... i'm on the 330 and i dig it... one of the biggest things told to me with this plane is to understand the FMA... cross check it... and with regards to the MCDU i was told "garbage in, garbage out"...
my biggest struggle was learning the MCDU, flying the plane was great with the sidestick... but it all comes together and is great to fly... especially on those long flts...

 

[J32driver]

aa73,

If you want to see what the other pilot is doing with his sidestick, just look at your ADI. There is a small black square that is a cursor for the sidestick. When a sidestick is displaced, the cursor will show it on the display.

Everyone gets wrapped up about the way the Airbus "thinks" and flys. The reality is it isn't any different from any other glass airplane. The big one that gets everyone is the term "Managed". Managed is just the French way of saying that the airplane is flying FMS information. That could be an FMS speed profile, FMS VNAV profile, or an FMS RNAV profile.

Don't want to fly FMS speeds. Pull the speed knob. Now the plane maintains whatever speed you select with the knob on the panel. Still don't like it... Move the thrust levers to match the carrots indicating current power, then mash the disconnect buttons. Viola... you have direct control of engine thrust via the thrust levers and you can fly it like any other airplane.

Same process works for VNAV stuff as well. Don't like the way the FMS is doing it. Pull the knob and descend in Vspeed. Don't like Vspeed... flip the toggle and come down a path mode. Want to be real lazy... pull the knob and get Flight Idle Open Descent. The engines will roll back to idle and the airplane will pitch to hold airspeed. It won't honor FMS restrictions, but it will capture back up at the altitude selected in the window. Automation screwing you? Go to a different level of automation that you understand. It is that simple.

The bus is simply the most comfortable, most boring airplane I've ever flown. Because of the autotrim, hand flying is just as boring as watching the autopilot fly. Without the autopilot on... take your hand off the stick, wipe 50 knots off of it, and sit and watch as the airplane holds altitude perfectly while bleeding airspeed. You can even do that trick in a 30 degree bank. Set the bank, take your hand off, slow the airplane down 50 knots... and the airplane will hold altitude, bank, and settle perfectly on speed while you do nothing but watch. That being said... you will find the bus is extremely nimble to fly. Rolls very crisply and when moving the thrust by hand, the engines actually spool pretty quick.

I will give you... system logic is FUBAR'ed! The 1st time you read the checklist for a RADAR ALT 2 fault... you will be amazed, dumbfounded, and contemplate bidding a new piece of equipment. 1st time I saw it... the Captain says... well pull out the checklist for it. I thought he was kidding. He wasn't!

 

[aa73]

Thanks J32! Great info that I will file away for when the time comes.
Cheers,
73

 

[SMcC]

aa73,

If you want to see what the other pilot is doing with his sidestick, just look at your ADI. There is a small black square that is a cursor for the sidestick. When a sidestick is displaced, the cursor will show it on the display.

This doesn't happen in the Airbus I fly, not in flight at least. J32driver does make a good point though that the absence of thrust lever and side stick movement is a non-issue. I think it has only been made an issue by non-airbus pilots that don't understand what they have observed from the jumpseat.

 

[johnsonrod]

The only thing you should be afraid of is the new "negotiated" pay scales on the A319 at AA. Especially the new B-scale FOs (probably regional pay level). :bawling: :angryfire

HOLD THE LINE GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Airbus pilots I speak to love the airplane. I know a few pilots at Delta who claim they have no interest leaving the Airbus fleet (from A319 to the A330 later).