Transition from Yoke to Joystick

[dtfl]

not an issue at all. Getting used to the Airbus auto thrust system took a little bit longer, but likewise.........not an issue.

Its got to be better than this POS DFGC and AT that I am trying to learn on the MD88...........

 

[JetPilot_Mike]

The biggest thing I hate about the Airbus is ALT*! Way too slow!

 

[Truckdriver]

Its got to be better than this POS DFGC and AT that I am trying to learn on the MD88...........

Now be nice to the old 88. Once your figure out how to contort yourself so you can press IAS while at the same time slamming the throttles to idle you will be set. The Airbus does have a much nicer AT/FGCP system than the 88, but what airplane doesn't?

 

[skiandsurf]

And you get reminded that it is a gay french sissy airplane every time you hit 2500 RA. I hated that voice saying "two thowsand fife hundwed". The most annoying aural voice accent in the entire world!

I thought it said "twiiiinteeee five hundred".

The transition is easy, and I would prefer to handfly the airbus, with its auto-trim, its easy and smooth.

 

[Cardinal]

As stated, the stick is perfectly natural.

Auto-trim, however, goes against all that is holy! That in combination with the non-moving autothrust serve to completely disconnect the new Airbus pilot from reality.

Example; visual approach, AP/AT off. In a normal aircraft, upon reaching g/s intercept one could bring the power back near idle and the aircraft would begin a constant airspeed descent without further input. Fifi requires that you adjust the power, then push the stick forward to start a descent and hopefully (but not likely) hold your target airspeed. It really does feel like "driving" an airplane. But you get used to it.

 

[Beetle007]

And to top it off, the French added insults as you try to land, calling you a "retard."

Bye Bye---General Lee

The first "retard" call is a verb
The second+ "retard" call is a noun

 

[F/O]

The biggest thing I hate about the Airbus is ALT*! Way too slow!

Hand fly it to ALT then...

 

[Beetle007]

Hand fly it to ALT then...

Just keep in mind it is dangerous to ignore the flight director commands. As long as you are in a variable thrust mode (speed or mach) it isn't a problem. But bad stuff can happen if autothrust is in a fixed thrust mode (like thrust idle or thurst climb).

Air India had an A320 that crashed due to thrust idle and ignoring the flight directors. They got too slow and hit the ground bursting into flames. And a legacy airline in the U.S. had a crew that briefly planned on ditching because they thought they had lost control of the engines and the airplane kept slowing (i.e., they were ignoring the flight directors).

I have seen situations where ALT* can be dangerous though because ALT* ignores your speed protections. Airbus lost an A330 because test pilots simulated an engine failure in ALT* and the autopilot ignored the speed protections. The airplane rolled over and crashed before the pilots could recover.