Returning from Innsbruck

[The red barron 41]

Hello once again, it is time to stop admiring the Alps and take the aircraft back to where we came from.  So welcome on board once again, sit back, relax and enjoy this flight to Luton.
Part one is:HERE

 

As I said in part one, I have not closed P3D between the last flight and this one but instead I'm simply refueling, new flight plan and re-loading the aircraft then going.  This has a number of benefits such as it saves time and is more realistic.  However this also allows the aircraft to retain certain parameters such as engine oil, the heat of the electrical generators (important if flying to a hot destination with a short turnaround) and also the brake temperatures; which as I said in part one would be an issue.

 

I also said that space would be quite tight on the take off; and with the Navigation Display confirms this.  Look at that right turn immediately after take off!

 

Here is the SID, we're flying the KPT 2J departure off of Runway 08.  Yup going out facing the wrong way as the winds are now favoring runway 08.  Should make things interesting!
3NM after takeoff we need to be above 5600 and turn right with a minimum bank of 25 degrees and a max speed of 154knots.  This is because we need a tight turn due to the terrain.  We'll then fly parallel to the field accelerating as we go. Then turn right as we go past and carry on climbing away.  Note there is 250knot speed restriction upto FL110.  A bit more exciting than Luton I'm sure you'll agree.

 

Having a quick rest before needing some considerable climb performance.  Also that 'hill' look rather hard...
I love the sounds of the aircraft in the external view, again they're spot on to the real thing.  I also love that when on the flight deck with the front cabin door open you get the external sound come through, all be it quieter.  Same thing when opening the flight deck windows, especially with the characteristic 'scream' of the brake fans and the 'howl' as you turn them off.

 

After an hour of turn around it is once again time to push back and go.  Flight time is around 1 hr 40 again.  Oh and GSX actually managed to push me back properly this time.
We took a slow taxi to the runway as we not only needed to give the cabin time to get ready; but you also need to give the engines at least 3 minutes to get up to operational temperature or 7 minutes if it's more than 2 hours since they were last used.  Again the FSLabs will tell you to delay take off if they are not up to temperature.  Oh and the IAE engines take longer to heat their oil than the CFM's which we have here.

 

Heading on to the runway, we will be using full length this time.  Also you can see the route we'll be taking to get out of the valley.

 

Face off.  Just look at the terrain on my display it's mental.  The brake temps are also visible, managed to get them to around 90 so well below the 150C limit.  Are you ready?

 

Rotate! for the next few minutes it's going to be intense concentration and incredible climb performance from the aircraft.

 

Having now completed the turn, we're now accelerating and climbing like a rocket over Innsbruck and are about to turn right.  Seeing as we took off at only 63900Kg we've actually managed to climb above most of the terrain relatively quickly.

 

Now turning right and into the clouds.  The weather does seem to have moved in a little bit whilst we've been on the ground.

 

Yup, definitely worse.  Active Sky2016 and Active Sky Cloud Art (ASCA) doing its thing.  If you ask me ASCA is much better then its REX rival which I used to use.  You get a much better range of sky and cloud combinations and also get the effect of flying through the clouds which I'll show later on.  I have ASCA set to full dynamic, so whatever weather Active Sky gives it ASCA responds accordingly.  Also because they're both from the same developer, it's seamless integration between the two.  Oh and I'm running at 512 bit textures as it saves on performance and also (for me) look more realistic.

 

Clouds

 

One last look at the Alps before turning north for Luton.  I love flying in this part of the world, it is incredibly beautiful.

 

ASCA has decided we're not worthy of seeing France from 38,000ft today!

 

On account there is nothing to see, I'll talk about the aircraft.  It spent 6 years in development for FSX and 6.5 years for P3D, and it took them 2 years to get the fly by wire right.  The A320 is a very clever aircraft with 89 computers (which are all modeled accurately) running at the same time; with over 100,000 electrical connections; again all modeled correctly.  When you click a switch there isn't an instant reaction because like the real thing, the signal has to go off to all the various places before it happens.  Also all 42 fuel sensors are modeled correctly and the Fuel on Board will change depending on which sensors are wet or dry.  So in the climb your fuel can report back lower than actual amount because the aircraft is climbing, and when you reach top of climb it will come back to its true value, same happens on decent too.

 

It's also packed full of minor details that you'd only notice if you worked on the real aircraft.  There is an interview from Matt Davies on Youtube where he interviews Andrew Wilson, one of the developers on the night the aircraft came out.  It's 90mins long but well worth a watch/listen if you want to learn more.

 

Getting closer, we'll soon be starting the decent.
I used to fly the Aerosoft Airbus before this one and don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic aircraft to fly.  But it does have it's limitations and (as marketed) it is a simplified Captains only simulation of everyday normal operations.  These two aircraft are marketed at two different groups of people and the FSLabs is for those who want a proper, in depth, study level simulation of the aircraft, which has to be flown as per real world.  For instance, the rule of taxi at 10 knots in the wet around a corner? In the Aerosoft you can ignore this as nothing happens.  In the FSLabs you can't as you'll simply aquaplane and go straight on.  You have to be alert flying this aircraft and always be ahead; if your not, it will catch you out.  It is a very expensive airplane, but (for me anyway) worth every single penny with details and touches like this littered throughout the aircraft.  If you're serious about flying the A320, this is the aircraft for you.

 

With us now being so close, it's time to decent plan.  We're flying the ABBOT 1E arrival, we can ignore the FL170 limit at Detling as this doesn't apply to us.  At 32NM North of Detling there is a 250knot speed limit.  At Abbot we'll turn left and...

 

Turn onto the ILS for 26.  ABBOT has a 8000ft or below restriction, the 6000 at 12DME from Barkway, at 6DME it's down to 3000.  We start the final approach at 3000, with a standard 3  degree glide, the weather is fine for today so we are a CAT1 approach, so minimums is 730.  We are flaps full, Idle reverse and autobrake low, aiming to vacate at B2.  I'll disconnect the autopilot once we are established and all set.
Coming back into Luton is considerably easier than going into Innsbruck!

 

Putting all the data in, the weather is on the First Officers side, nothing to drastic, just a bit of a variable wind and a little overcast at 2900.

 

Cabin Crew please prepare the cabin for landing.  At least the weather seems to have cleared up.

 

Getting ever closer.  Can you spot the Dartford crossing? I can.

 

This is the cloud affect I was talking about earlier.  Another nice thing about the FSLabs is the effects it comes with.  So at night when in cloud, you get the reflection of the strobe light bouncing off of the cloud, and you'll also get the reflection of the landing lights too.  It all helps you give you the feeling of 'being there'
We've also turned directly to the course inbound of the ILS from ABBOT; this has saved around 4 minutes of time and also saved a little bit of fuel too.  All good things.

 

Turning onto the Localiser over Stevenage and slowing to 160knots as like a lot of busy airports Luton requires you to fly in at 160knots until 4DME from the runway

 

"500"
"Stable"
It's not as pretty as Innsbruck I know but there's not much I can do about that

 

Vacated at B2.  Not hugely difficult today as we were light, landing at around 60,000Kg, but it isn't quite so easy when landing in from say Pafos or Tel Aviv when you are heavier.  Also the winds don't always help...

 

There's our welcome party on stand 5.  Not as many of them as there was in Innsbruck.  Again the brake fans are running, as it is good practice to run them for 5 minutes after landing.  Any less and you start getting into thermal shock territory!

 

And back almost where we started.  1hr 55 block and it was 1hr 42 flying, but I forgot to stop the clock after landing hence why it read 1hr 48....  (taxiing is far more important ok!) Brakes are also a reasonable 155C, so the next crew don't need to worry to much about them.

 

Leaving G-EZTA the way we found her, serviceable and in one piece.  Having handed over the the next crew who are Glasgow bound it's time to go back to the crew room, drop the paperwork off, quick de-brief and check to see that there are no roster changes for the next day, before heading home once again.

 

Project Fly overview.  The pictorial route is fine but the written is wrong as we jumped on the ABBOT 1E arrival after WAFFU.  Also the landing rate is average for line flying.  I'll tell you now from experience they're not always as smooth as people tell you they are! The max on the A320 in -600FPM before you need a hard landing inspection.

 

Well there we are! back at Luton after a successful day out to Innsbruck, on time and in one piece with nothing broken, what more could you ask for?
Thanks for reading, I do hope you've enjoyed coming along for the ride and until next time, take care.
TRB

Edited April 4, 2017 by The red barron
Grammar and spelling is hard...

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Nicely done, the scenery is certainly challenging round there, keep an eye out for my low flying Skyvan, she's been running no higher than 4,000 ft at around 160kts.

[mutley 4,498]

 Bravo!

 

Nicely done again Ed, a very entertaining post.. thanks!

[brett 2,316]

Great day of flying, excellent PIREP and nice pics Ed, well done all around. 

[wain 879]

nice one, great reading nice pics too...

[The red barron 41]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

[dolf8857 640]

Very nice trip and awesome shots!