Flying The A320 in MSFS2020

[PeteP]

I gave up flying flight sims for fun about 15 years ago with involvement from then on limited to test flights as part of the Radar Contact development team and later, setting up and testing for the Tangmere Museum sims so I rather surprised myself by buying MSFS202 on a whim. Fortunately, downloading went without a hitch and - more by luck than judgement, I think - I managed to get it installed on the drive I wanted.

I've spent the last few days trying out the airliners - mostly the A320 - and re-aquainting myself with Boeing and Airbus flight management systems with flights between Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Gatwick and Heathrow all with real weather and I must say I've been delighted with the results. Here's a trip from Manchester to Heathrow I did in this morning's filthy weather.

I was expecting to have to drag out old charts from wherever I'd dumped them and find some flight planning software but MS very kindly provides a complete lazy man's flight planning sytem as part of the software! All that's needed is to enter the departure and destination, select the type of flight - IFR high-level in my case - and the route appears automatically. Next chose SIDs and STARs and any transitions and they're filled in too. (I have a vague recollection that jets aren't allowed to use the LISTO SIDs from the 23s but what the heck - it's my sim!



In addition to appearing in the flight log and on the map - both undockable windows that can be displayed on a second screen if you have one - it's also loaded automatically into the aircraft's navigation system. Here the A320's MCDU.



The MCDU close up view came from one of the may pre-programmed cameras (CTRL+5 in this case) and there are 9 others such as the overhead (CTRL-0)



the throttle quadrant (CTRL-6)



and the autopilot controls (taken before I'd noticed the In HG - HPa switch!).



The weather at Manchester was not at all pleasant with heavy rain, low cloud and strong winds. Storm Francis making its way across the country, I guess - am I the only one who thinks that giving storms names is the height of silliness?



We broke out of the lumpy-bumpy bits at about FL125...



...and it turned out out to be a rather nice day on top.



The autopilot and navigation display worked perfectly throughout the flight.



Time for descent - the tops were at about FL85 in the London area.



I had planned to vector myself after BNN but the flight management system had come up with a route not too dissimilar to real ATC vectoring so I let it do its thing to see what happened



and I was soon establishing on the ILS.



There was a nasty crosswind from the left (the slightly elevated view here is controlled by pressing the space bar - very useful for landing)



as can be seen in this shot but, once again, the automatics performed well enough to get me in a position from where I could make an 'arrival'.



By the time I was safely tucked up on stand, the weather had started to improve. A very enjoyable experience - I think MS may be on to a winner here.



Was there anything I didn't like? Oh, yes! The ATC - it doesn't seem to have changed since it was introduced all those years ago and still tries to make you fly in the UK with an 18,000ft Transition Altitude and US phraseology. Come back Radar Contact - all is forgiven!

If you're just starting to dip a toe into the MSFS 2020 water, you may like to check out the videos below by Squirrel and A320 sim Pilot which have helped me to quickly get to grips with the sim in general and the A320 in particular.

Squirrel Tutorial #2 - Peripheral Control Set Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DXdGaRgnhU
Squirrel Tutorial #3 - Camera Set Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTUFA33wIEM
A320 Sim Pilot - Real Airbus Pilot tries Microsoft Flight Simulator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jchxsSdBRLo

Have fun.
Pete

[Nigel H-J]

Pete, I can just about get by with the FMC in X-Plane 11, if I have read your commentary above correctly then the flight plan you selected will automatically load into the FMC in MS2020?

It does sound by your writing that you are getting quite hooked on the MS Flight Sim and those shots are brilliant.

Speaking of ATC, I use Pilot2ATC in X-Plane and much prefer it to the default ATC that comes with the sim but not without problems as it is text to speech and sometimes I find myself pulling my (what is left of it) hair out when he/she does not respond. I think on the whole Radar Contact was much better but just wonder whether MS might, just might turn their ATC into text to speech instead of just selecting numbers or whatever you do.

Regards
Nigel.

[PeteP]

if I have read your commentary above correctly then the flight plan you selected will automatically load into the FMC in MS2020?

Yes, Nigel, that's exactly what happens. Select your departure and destination airfield, tell it what type of flight, VFR, IFR airways, VOR-VOR etc, add the SIDs, STARs and type of approach and it's all generated for you and added to your FMC or GPS, the VFR map and your nav log. A real lazy man's flight planning system - just right for me!

It does sound by your writing that you are getting quite hooked on the MS Flight Sim...

I'm afraid I might be but it's quite enjoyable coming back to fun flying after 15 years away.

I think on the whole Radar Contact was much better but just wonder whether MS might, just might turn their ATC into text to speech instead of just selecting numbers or whatever you do.

I'm glad you said that about Radar Contact as I was responsible for designing the non-US phraseology, procedures and altimetry system. Its one glaring weakness, though, was the poor quality of the voices despite the hundreds of hours of work that was done assembling them. As to what MS do, it's anyone's guess but I'd really like to see them do something to improve matters especially now they have the basis of a first class sim.

Best
Pete

[Nigel H-J]

Yes, Nigel, that's exactly what happens. Select your departure and destination airfield, tell it what type of flight, VFR, IFR airways, VOR-VOR etc, add the SIDs, STARs and type of approach and it's all generated for you and added to your FMC or GPS, the VFR map and your nav log. A real lazy man's flight planning system - just right for me!

Hi Pete, now that is also my type of flight planner, more flying less workload planning it yourself.

I'm glad you said that about Radar Contact as I was responsible for designing the non-US phraseology, procedures and altimetry system. Its one glaring weakness, though, was the poor quality of the voices despite the hundreds of hours of work that was done assembling them. As to what MS do, it's anyone's guess but I'd really like to see them do something to improve matters especially now they have the basis of a first class sim.

That would have taken a huge amount of your time but I would think very gratifying after it was completed. Very sad to hear though that Radar Contact is no longer going to be updated, that is one reason why I went for Pilot2ATC as it is not compatible for X-Plane 11, the voices are not too bad either but the software side of voice recognition is somewhat lacking when I am asked to repeat over and again. Must be me? Just wonder what type of ATC add-on will be allowed to replace the in-game version or even if MS will ever allow this.

[Paul K]

Great pictures, Pete. I like the look of instant flight planner too, particularly as it includes a VOR -VOR function. I'll wont be getting MSFS until later in the year, but it's interesting to read of people's experiences here at CBFS. All in all, it looks like a winner.

[chrispbits]

Great pictures and commentary Pete! I tend to stay away from things like FMCs (CBA) but your post has me tempted, particularly as the sim does most of the donkey work. On the subject of VOR to VOR there was a recent news article about how a reduction in air traffic had allowed more direct routes and the time/fuel savings to be had as a consequence. The article went on to say that direct routing could be here to stay.

[PeteP]

I'm sure they are here to stay Chris but, despite what you may read in the press, direct routes have been available for many years.

The main stumbling block in the 70s and 80s (and presumably earlier) was the military who could permanently sterilise huge blocks of airspace for Military Training Areas, Danger Areas and so on. Even when it was obvious that they weren't being used, at night or weekends and public holidays for example, there was no formal way of getting the airspace released for civil use. Pressure began to tell in the 90s and cooperation between the civil and military authorities increased all over Europe allowing access procedures to be drawn up to allow much more direct routing at certain times and these procedures were very well established by the time I retired in 2006.

I guess this has come to the press's notice because, with so few flights, more opportunities are available but they really are nothing new.

Pete

[Nigel H-J]

Peter, thank you very much for posting those screenshots especially number eight, the external shot with the clouds!!

Reason for the thanks is quite simple, showed Babs number eight screenshot this morning when I was surfing on my mobile phone and just said 'look at this one'.

I then said no more and just waited, (too much talk can ruin a sale or purchase).

After a few moments she then asked would I like it and the obvious answer was................................Yes.

Have you got enough room on the computer?............................... Yes, if I didn't, I would make room or buy another SSD though did not mention that to her...................................... (Do not let them know it may incur further costs until you have purchased it and then just act dumb and
explain that you thought you had plenty of space available).

I am still going to wait as she suggested, but I at least I have been given the green light without having to ask!!

So thank you Peter and have a virtual drink on me!!

Regards
Nigel.

[PeteP]

Delighted I could be of some small assistance to you Nigel!

Pete

[chrispbits]

Don't expect too much at this stage Nigel and you won't be disappointed. What is good is usually very good and I have no issues with performance with my AMD 3600X and bog standard NVidia 2070 in most circumstances.

You've done quite well Nigel - you managed to last 1 week and 1 day.