REAL AIRBUS PILOT | Part 2 - A320 MCDU Setup Tutorial | Microsoft Flight Simulator 

Thanks Mika : ) That’s great to hear, glad you found it useful! If you have any more questions as you learn your way though the Airbus, don’t hesitate to ask!

@@IntotheBlueSimulations also do you know how to erase a flight plan or way point so when I need to erase something I’ll know how to

If you want to erase a single waypoint, simply hit the CLR key (bottom right of the keypad) and then select the waypoint you want to clear. If you want to erase the entire flight plan, go back to the INIT page and re-enter your departure / destination airports, that’ll clear out your current flight plan : )

@@IntotheBlueSimulations thanks you

Thanks Robin! Glad you found it if use : )

Thanks very much Peter! Really glad it was of use. I keep meaning to update the series actually (quite a bit has changed on the default Airbus since it was recorded etc), as always, it’s just a question of finding the time to do it. . . Good luck with the Airbus! All the best : )

Ah well, that’s great Mr NM! I’m really glad you found the video helpful. Happy flying and all the best : )

Thanks very much! : ) For sure! Part 3 goes up later today. Part 4 (next weekend) covers the takeoff and then Part 5 will be the autopilot logic / operation.

Thanks once again for the kind feedback Andrew! This vid was a bit trickier to make, what with the inaccuracies still present in the default MCDU. I tried my best to work around it, but it’s not quite as concise as I wanted a result. I think things are “back on track” with the next vid in the series. Trying to build up a decent catalogue on the channel yeah, lots of ideas, but never enough time ha.

@@IntotheBlueSimulations Always a pleasure! I guess that it must be more difficult for you because you know exactly how it should work and you can see the limitations that maybe we can't? It is frustrating to use the default MCDU. Hopefully the A320NX mod will improve on it soon.

It can certainly be a little frustrating when I start recording, go off on one describing how something works, only to then find actually it doesn’t ha. It’s also frustrating to essentially teach an incorrect method on occasion (particularly unavoidable with the MCDU). In most other respects (bugs aside) the aircraft systems behave very broadly as they should. Ultimately, it’s a default aircraft, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. Overall I still think it’s reasonable and with some tweaking here and there, could actually be pretty decent. I wasn’t actually going to make the series originally (in view of teaching something incorrect), but I saw so many questions on Reddit relating to the default bus, that I thought people might get some use out of it. I will definitely take a look at the community mod as well, once it has matured a bit.

Haha, thanks very much, Drarf!! : )

Thank you very much Peter, very kind of you to say! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the content. Welcome to MSFS : )

You’re most welcome. Glad you’re making some progress, welcome to the hobby! Next vid will be up on Sunday : )

Ah well, thanks very much Matt, that’s great to hear! I’m really glad you found the series useful. My pleasure and best of luck with your continued learning! : )

Thanks : ) This video was actually quite frustrating to make as the default MCDU still lacks quite a lot on functionality and has numerous bugs. Still not 100% happy with the end result, but I tried my best to work around it. If you do want to learn how to set it up properly (in the future), I strongly recommend going with my Aerosoft / FSX guide instead. Cheers for “flying by” as always! : P

@@IntotheBlueSimulations hey so at 6:13 you said you can’t put in the first airway so you put in Donna and then the airway um605 so why did you put it in after because wouldn’t it just take you back the waypoint since it was before Finma, plz get back to me because this confuses me on why you put it after the waypoint that comes after it, anyways great video!

@@IntotheBlueSimulations oops it says Donna but I meant to say finma and at about 6:08 is where you said that we can’t put in the um605 airway first!

Hi Mika, good question : ) So, in reality I should have just been able to put the airway straight in after DTY (as DTY is the start of the UM605 airway) and then put the final waypoint we’ll be flying to on that airway (so UM605 and SILVA). However, the default A320 is currently bugged and won’t allow you to this. As a workaround, I told the flight plan we’ll be flying direct from DTY to FINMA (which we would be on the UM605 airway anyway). Once you have a waypoint entered like this, then the (bugged) MCDU will allow you to start entering airways and waypoints normally. The reason it won’t send you back in the direction you came from: think of airways and waypoints like a motorway (highway) and the junctions coming off them. We’re telling the flight computer we want to fly on the UM605 “motorway”, we want to join at “junction” DTY and get off again at “junction” SILVA. Most airways can be flown in either direction, the flight computer knows which direction we want to take, based on the start and finish waypoints we give it. So I told the flight computer in this example; I want to go from DTY direct to FINMA, then join the UM605 airway, all the way to SILVA. If you have a long section on the same airway, all you need to give the flight computer is the start point, airway designation and end point. In the real aircraft, the computer would fill in all the intermediate waypoints for you, unfortunately this is not the case with the MSFS A320 currently though. Does that help answer your question? : )

@@IntotheBlueSimulations yes it does help my question thanks for taking the time to answer it, I may a few more questions later that I’ll leave for you, also are you going to make another tutorial on this when the a320 isn’t bugged or on any other planes like the 787 or 747, anyway great video and thank you for taking the time to educate noob flight sim pilots like me!

My pleasure once again : ) Hmm, that sounds like a bug to me if anything. If you’re typing a number into the scratchpad and then clicking on the FLT NBR field, it should go in, no other trickery required. Are you using the default 320 or the FBW version? Cheers, all the best!

Thank you very much Biswajit, I’m really glad you found the video / series useful! I’m afraid I don’t have the time to make additional tutorials at the moment, but I have a list of potential futures videos, so I shall add your request to that : ) Cheers and all the best!

@@IntotheBlueSimulations Sure buddy. Thanks!

Thanks Alex! Welcome aboard : )

Hello Finn, Which second field are you referring to - the second field on the airways page perhaps? I’d be surprised if the Xbox version of the A320 is coded any differently. It has been quite some time since I recorded this video, so it’s plausible that things may have changed on the default Airbus. It could also be a mismatch in waypoints / airways etc. If you have any further details, please do let me know and I’ll see if I can think of anything else. All the best!

Hi Rutch, sorry for the slow reply! Glad you found the tutorial useful. Do you use any sort of flight planning software for your flights; or do you use the sims in-built planner? Generally speaking, choosing a SID / STAR is actually very straightforward. Most SID / STARs are linked to a waypoint and / or runway. In the case of the Airbus, you may also have to choose a "VIA" waypoint. Basically you need to decide what runway you will be departing from / landing on (based on environmental conditions, ATC considerations, runway length, proximity etc.) and which direction you're departing / arriving in. If you're just making up your own flight plan you could pick any SID / STAR that meets your needs in terms of direction of travel / runway. If however you're using a generated flight plan, then really what you're looking for is which SID / STAR most closely aligns with your flight plan departure / arrival waypoint. In the real-world and indeed using Simbrief (a free online flight planning tool) for example, this will generally be taken care of for you. Sometimes though, flight plans may not automatically include a SID / STAR and this I suppose is where your question comes in. I think it's easiest to explain with an example. Generally as I say, you want to look at your flight plan and see which SID / STARs align with your planned routing. So for example, if the Southampton VOR (SAM) was part of your initial routing, you would probably be looking for a "SAM" SID of some description (eg SAM2M SID). If you were arriving via waypoint LORES, you would be looking for a STAR with a LORES designation (eg LORES4P). Again, there may be multiple SID / STARs based off of the same waypoint, so it would be up to you (in the absence of ATC / a flight plan assigned SID / STAR) to choose which one suited you best and make sure it's for the appropriate runway. Unfortunately SID / STAR designations don't always follow this rule exactly, but it'll work 9 times out of 10. Specifically regarding the Airbus, in the MCDU you would select your chosen runway first (eg RWY27), then the SID (eg SAM2M) then any via waypoint (again this generally relates to your flight plan or chosen routing if a single SID has multiple departure options). The same process is true for the STAR. I hope that helps a bit? Obviously it's not the easiest thing to explain clearly via text. I do intend to do a video on it one of these days, but I can never find the time amongst everything else haha (it may well be that there are already some on RU-vid anyway). Let me know if you have any further questions. All the best! : )

@@IntotheBlueSimulations thank you so much for taking the time to reply and explain. This is one of the many reasons why your channel is brilliant - so helpful, as always!

Thanks man! Awesome, glad it was of some help! That’s certainly part of the intent behind the channel. Happy to help where I can : ) All the best!

Hi Asif, Unfortunately, airways / waypoints became broken since this video was recorded. It may be that Sim Update 15 has now fixed the issue again but, I haven’t had a chance to check. For the default Airbus, unless the issue has been fixed, your best bet is to build up the route waypoint by waypoint. I hope that helps. All the best : )

Hi Jellyfish, I just manipulated the cockpit camera into the position that I wanted : ) I hope that helps. All the best!

My guess would be either they’ve updated the default Airbus, or perhaps you’re using the Flybywire mod? ILS was the term used on older Airbus’ generally now they use LS (as the field in the RADNAV Page and / or the LS pusbutton can be used for a number of different approach types). Hope that helps : )

@@IntotheBlueSimulations Thanks that helps I'm using the flybywire mod, thanks for the explanation.

Ah, that’ll be it then. My pleasure! : )

Hello Flash, Apologies for the slow reply. I did have a bit of a play around with the default A320 and everything seemed to be working ok on my end. It’s always tricky to know exactly what the problem might be, without knowing precisely what it is that you’re doing. If you’re doing things exactly as described in this video, I can only think that either you have a nav data issue (your Sim Brief nav database doesn’t match up with your MSFS one), or there is some sort of bug with the default A320 (which is certainly possible, as the aircraft has always had its problems). Have you tried building up the route waypoint by waypoint instead? I’m afraid I can’t really offer up much more help than that, unless you can perhaps provide any further clarification / details. I’m glad you otherwise found the video useful. Cheers and all the best!

Its nothing you're doing wrong, since an update in 2023 no airways exist (or you certainly can't use them) its for any of them at all and its for the default database for the simulator, any aircraft using the default sim database won't be able to use the airways. Is a discussion on their forum about this back in 2023 though I forget which exact date someone brought this issue up.

Hi RF, In the real aircraft, if you want to clear all of your data out of the MCDU and start again, you can swap the active database (via the Status page of the MCDU), but I’m not sure whether or not that’s an option within the sim. Otherwise, you might not be able to delete everything and may just have to enter in data “over the top” of what you already have. Cheers : )

Haha! Well, I do hope the landing went better than the rest of the flight then, Mr T : P Happy flying and all the best! : )

Sorry to hear that Henry - I’ve tried to keep things as simple as I reasonably can. I’m guessing you’re fairly new to the hobby? It would be easier to start out with a simpler aircraft, run through the MSFS tutorials and work your way up from there. This particular set of tutorials, does assume a certain level of knowledge : ) I hope that helps a little. Happy flying and all the best!

Thanks very much Nikhil, I’m really glad you enjoyed it! If you’re looking to contact me on a “business” related matter, Intotheblueinbox@gmail.com is best. If you have some questions regarding flying the Airbus etc, leaving them here in the comments is preferable. I hope that helps. All the best! : )