Hello, can I ask you something, at 3:32 at DADON waypoint, shouldn't you change the wind altitude from FL370 to FL390 since there is a step climb there?
Airbus FCOM states: "Entering a new altitude, over an existing altitude, replaces that existing altitude at all cruise waypoints. Any winds entered at the overwritten altitude are lost at all cruise waypoints." There are two ways to prevent this from happening: 1. Create two cruise wind data lines (370/390) beginning from the first waypoint on the cruise phase - which requires double amount of typing when you are already rushing for an on-time departure 2. or Enter all wind data on single cruise wind line (FL370) and let the computer extrapolate the wind for you at FL390 - which isn't the most accurate but good enough for a 5 hour flight. The choice is yours.
@@leeaf7 Thank you for your clear reply! So I guess entering wind data on the mcdu is something you only do in long flights right? Do A320 pilots do it too?
Regardless of flight time, accurate wind information is always helping. However, it is generally agreed upon by professional pilots that longer flight segments require even more accurate wind information to predict fuel burn along the way. This particular company I used to work for was a cheap-ass company that didn't bother to buy an AOC wind upload function for a brand new airplane. Thus pilots had to type in pretty much everything when you were crunching for an on-time departure. What we have been instructed by training guys was to enter the average trip wind on INIT-A page and then once you get airborne with our task saturation deescalated, start uploading wind data corresponding with each waypoint (you have all the time you need once you reach your cruise altitude). Not an ideal solution to the root cause, but on-time departures were much more critical to this particular company especially for training flights.
Both terms can be correct I'd say. FMGES (or FMGS) consists of FMGCs, FCU, and MCDUs. MCDU and FCU would be interface units to prepare the FMGES to work correctly for a specific flight.
