Fly Like the Pros

Instruction Series

Wilco Airbus Vol. 1

Pre-Departure Procedures

By: Jeremy Bucholz

America West Virtual Airlines
www.thenewawe.org

Preface
For those watching the fiasco of the new airbus being developed by the Airsimmer
Company, you might have noticed a lot of flaming on the part of the Wilco Airbus series.
I have owned the Wiloc Airbus series Vol 1 & 2 for years now, and like those "flammers"
got tired of the bugs and threw it in the hangar to collect dust. Then, I started controlling
at a busy international airport (real life) and soon realized that while there are some
bugs, most of my troubles were direct human error. The goal of these documents is to
share my experiences with my fellow virtual pilots and maybe convince those that
simply refuse to fly the Wilco Airbus that it's not as bad as it seems. This is a collection
of documents with detailed instructions on how to fly like a real airbus pilot would.

To assist in this tutorial, you will need to print the following documents:

Checklists & Procedures - Included with your Wilco Airbus, can be found at Start >
Programs > Wilco Publishing > Airbus Series 1

Airbus Performance Guide - This guide was created by Matt Zagoren and is an
excellent guide when the Wilco guide is missing something. It can be found at
http://www.satavirtual.org/fleet/A320PERFORMANCE.PDF

Disclaimer and Legal

I am not a real world pilot, I have never flown a real airplane, but during the last year I
have had the pleasure to talk with real world pilots and learn how they do business. All
I am going to show you with these documents are the things that I have learned from
talking with these pilots and from my own investigations from online sources.
These documents are for FLIGHT SIMULATOR USE ONLY and should not be used for
real world flight. The trademarks Wilco, Airsimmer, and Airbus, belong to their
respective owners and are in no way affiliated with America West Virtual Airlines.
This tutorial was created using the payware update created by Eric Marciano and may
be found at this address http://emarciano.free.fr/En/index.htm. Results may vary if not
using the update.

Part 1: Flight Planning

Flight Leg: KLAS - KLAX

Flight Plan: BOAHC2 HEC RIIVR2

Cruise Altitude: FL280

Distance: 225 NM's

Aircraft: A319

Departure Runway: 19L

Arrival Runway: 24R

Estimated Enroute Time: 1 Hour

Flight Planning is a very crucial step in any flight. It is important, even in the sim world,
to plan your route according to weather, weight, length of flight, and airport conditions.
Knowing ahead of time if you'll be encountering head winds, the runways in use at both
departure and arrival airports, and any significant weather changes will be vital to your
flight. Fortunately, the weather at both airports is very nice with just a few scattered
clouds and light winds. We will encounter some head winds as we are flying against the
jet stream, but because our cruise time is minimal, they wont play much of a factor in
our fuel planning.
The first thing every pilot should do, is know their aircraft weights for the flight. In this
tutorial, we'll be using the Configuration Manager provided by Wilco. To access the

Configuration Manager go to, Start > Programs > Wilco Publishing > Airbus Series 1 >
Configurator.

After opening the Configuration Manager, click the top button labeled Configuration.

You'll receive the following user interface. From left to right, Click Intermediate, slide
the IRS Alignment Time to 10m00s, Click Cold & Dark, and be sure to uncheck the
Pause 20 NM before Top of Descent. Once all is complete, click ok.

After clicking ok, you'll be returned to the configuration manager, next click on the Load
Planner.

You will be presented with the option to choose which aircraft you wish to configure.
Since we are flying the A319 for this flight, we will click the A319 button, then click
Select an aircraft at the bottom.

You will be presented with your a load manager, load your PAX and Cargo then write
down your ZFW (Zero Fuel Weight). Be sure to use Imperial as your weight unit. Once
you have done so, click OK. Now, one problem with the Wilco Airbus is that this ZFW
does not calculate for the weight of the pilot and crew as MSFS does. So, this number
will be an estimate for fuel planning purposes and will not be the actual ZFW of your
aircraft. After clicking OK, you will be returned to the Configurator.

Next, click on Fuel Planner, you will once again be given the choice of which aircraft to
configure.

In the Fuel Planner, fill out the boxes necessary:

Flying Distance: I like to add 100 NM's to my flying distance just in case. You never
know when you'll have to divert or hold somewhere.
Cruising Altitude: Self Explanatory

Cost Index: There are a few things you should know before messing with the Cost
Index number. The lower the CI, the more efficient your airplane becomes, but it comes
at a price. Lowering your CI too much can cause a 1 hour flight to become a 1 and a
half hour flight. Normally, I will use a CI of anywhere between 50 and 70, depending on
my flight distance. Since we are only going 225 miles, I will leave it at 70. Some real
world airliners use a CI as low as 20! This is of course because of rising fuel costs, but
since we're in a sim world, fuel costs make no difference to us but we still want to be
efficient.
Zero Fuel Weight: Type in your ZFW that you wrote down from your Configuration.
Make sure to put your units in Imperial (lbs).
Right Side Colum: Leave as is.
Once you are finished, click the Validate button. Be sure to write down the percentages
for each fuel tank. This is because even though the Fuel Planner says it will load the
fuel for your next flight, this is not always the case. Once you've done all this, click
Close.
You are now done, and can close the Configuration Manager and start FS. Note that
you don't have to use the Wilco Configurator, you can use the in MSFS Fuel and
Payload settings or programs like FSPassengers.

Terms
Before we continue with the flight, there are some terms you should know as we will use
them heavily in this document.
APU: Auxiliary Power Unit, a small engine usually in the tail section of the fuselage that
provides electrical power to the aircraft. No thrust can be achieved with this engine.
TOGA: Take Off/Go Around mode, throttle mode using maximum thrust to achieve a
safe take off or go around.
FLEX (D-RATED) TO: A flex or D-Rated take off is a form of take off mode that uses
only a percentage of engine thrust to achieve lift. D-Rated take offs are heavily used in
the real world as they put less stress on the engine and allow the aircraft to be more
efficient and extend the life of the engines.
ZFW: Zero Fuel Weight, the weight of the aircraft when loaded with passengers and
cargo without any fuel.
TOW: Take Off Weight, the total weight of the aircraft (including fuel) during take off.
V1: Critical Engine Failure Speed or Decision Speed. At this speed, the pilot must
determine whether to abort the take off or continue.
Vr: Rotation Speed, the speed at which it is safe for the aircraft to rotate.
V2: Safe Take Off Speed, the speed at which an aircraft may safely leave the ground.
This is an important speed because at this speed if you have an engine failure, it is still
safe for you to be airborne.
MCDU: Also known in the Boeing world as the FMC, the Multifunction Control Display
Unit is the pilot's link to the onboard computer.
PFD: Primary Flight Display, a digital display showing flight information such as the
artificial horizon, indicated airspeed, altitude, and flight modes.
ND: Navigational Display, a digital display showing various navigation views such as the
flight plan and ILS/VOR directional needles. This display in the airbus also shows
heading, wind direction and speeds, Ground Speed, and True Airspeed.
ZFWCG: The Center of Gravity point for the aircraft without fuel.

Receiving Mode
Now that you have a basic knowledge of terms, it's time to get started on the flight. In
the cockpit, you should be greeted by a fully cold and dark cockpit. None of the
systems will be on.

The first thing you need to do is open the overhead panel and turn on both battery
switches.

Once both Battery Switches are ON, turn on the Fuel Pumps. Click all the buttons with
the OFF symbol.

Once Fuel is being delivered to the aircraft from the tanks, it's time to start the APU.
Click the APU Master Switch.

Once the APU Master Switch is on, click the APU Start Switch. You will hear the APU
spool up. Once the APU is ready, the words AVAIL will be in green on the Start Button.

After the APU is started, click both the PROBE/WINDOW HEAT and APU BLEED
switches ON.

Next, go up to the Electrical Panel of the Overhead and click on the two Generator
Switches.

Finally, we must check the IRS. This is a very important check because without the
IRS, we can't do our flight. Go up to the IRS panel and ensure all three toggle switches
are in the NAV position.

Before leaving the Overhead Panel, let's turn on the NAV Lights, Seat Belts and No
Smoking signs. Once we have completed these tasks, the aircraft is now in Receiving
Mode and ready for Pre-Flight.

Pre-Flight Setup
Like any aircraft, pre-flight procedures must be conducted prior to leaving the gate.
Now that you have provided power to the aircraft, your displays should look like this:

PFD Without IRS Alignment

ND Without IRS Alignment

Engine/Warning Display

The most important of these procedures, programming the MCDU. Let's open up the
MCDU and get started. When first opening the MCDU, it will display basic information
about the aircraft type and engine configuration. Let's go to the Initialization Page by
clicking the INIT key.

The INIT page is where your Airbus flights should always begin. This is the page where
you will align the IRS and input your weights. Note that the CI number is already
inputted for us. If you are using a different number, you can always change it.

The first place we should start is by inputting our departure and destination airport. The
format is as follows: ICAO/ICAO
Anytime you see a slash "/" in the MCDU, you must use that slash when making your
entries. After typing your entry, click the button next to the FROM/TO selection.

The entry has now been entered. You may input a flight number if you wish, but it does
not affect any portion of flight. Next, we have to align the IRS. Click the button next to
ALIGN IRS to start the process. During IRS alignment, it is very important that you do
not turn on the engines or attempt to move the aircraft in any way. This will cause the
alignment to be off and that will make for a nasty flight. Be aware that IRS alignment
takes 10 minutes, but you should have plenty of time.

After you align the IRS, you will notice that an IRS alignment time shows up on your
Engine/Warning Display. This lets you know how much time you have until the IRS is
properly aligned.

Next, type in your cruise altitude and inset it into the MCDU.

Once the Cruise Altitude has been inserted, you are done with this page. Click the
NEXT PAGE button to finish up the INIT page.

Now that we're on the second page, we can start inputting our weights. Click the button
next to the ZFWCG/ZFW entry. The MCDU will automatically input the ZFWCG and
ZFW in the scratch pad. Click the button once again to insert it into the MCDU. You will
want to write down the ZFWCG number and round the number up or down. Note the
weight number, this is the number multiplied by 100. So, the ZFW is 116,600 lbs
rounded. Remember that when we started the configuration manager, the weight was
much less. This was the bug I was talking about.

Next, click the button next to the BLOCK entry. This is the amount of fuel you are taking
on the trip. Like the ZFW, this number multiplied by 100 gives us our weight. Upon
clicking the button, like the ZFW, the MCDU will automatically insert the current load
into the scratchpad. As we can see, the number is quite wrong for the fuel we had
planned. This is the bug described above. Simply go into the MSFS Fuel and Payload
menu and input your percentages that wrote down from the Fuel Planner. Once you
have done so, click the CLR button to remove the scratchpad entry.

Once again, click the button next to the BLOCK entry and the new weight will appear.
Click the BLOCK button once again, to input the entry into the MCDU.

Once that is complete, the aircraft will calculate the TOW of the aircraft. Write down this
number and then continue on to the Performance Page by clicking the PERF button.

Before we continue with the PERF page, you'll need to have available your Wilco
Checklists & Procedures Guide. The PERF page is the second most important page in
your pre-flight procedures. This is where you will program the MCDU for take off. This
is also where I will teach you how to use a D-RATED or FLEX take off and how to make
the proper calculations. First things first, there are times when you should not use a
FLEX take off:
1. Braking Action Reported Less than Good
2. Windshear is Expected
3. Take Off Runway is Contaminated, ie: Wet, Ice, or Snow
4. Take Off is made in a Tail Wind
If any of these conditions exist, you should use the normal TOGA procedures.

To start the calculations, we need a few pieces of information. First we need the current
air temperature which in this case is 15 degrees C:

Next, we need the runway length in meters. Since in the U.S., we use the Imperial
system of measurement, we will have to convert the runway length from feet to meters.
Pull up the airport diagram for KLAS and find the length of the runway we are planning
for departure, which in this case is 19L. This is where the reason for programming the
PERF page before the Flight Plan is so important. You may find that you are unable to
use the runway you are planning. This becomes especially important during the
summer time where temperatures can reach 40 degrees C.

According to the Airport Diagram, the length of runway 19L is 9,775 ft. We must now
convert this into meters.
To do this quickly, you can use this website
http://www.calculateme.com/Length/Feet/ToMeters.htm. Simply type in 9775 in the box
and click convert to meters.

So, according to our calculator, runway 19L is 2,979 meters long, we'll take off the
decimal as shortening the runway is always better for calculations.
Next, we need to convert our TOW into metric tons. To do this quickly, go to this
website http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_common.htm. Type in our TOW
which is 126100 lbs. In the selection boxes, select lb, lbs in the From box and metric
ton in the To box. Hit Convert and you will have your TOW in metric tons which is 57.19
tons. Unlike the runway distance calculator, we will round our weight up to 58 tons to
ensure we are able to FLEX at our TOW.

Next, we need our Pressure Altitude. Pressure altitude is the surface altitude MSL
indicated when the aircraft's altimeter setting is set to 29.92 In Hg or 1013 mbs.
Because temperature and atmospheric pressure determine the pressure altitude, your
pressure altitude might be much higher or lower than the actual airport elevation.
Currently, our Pressure Altitude is indicating about 2,150 ft. Our airport elevation is
2,181 ft, see the difference? This is because the temperature is relatively low and the
pressure is high.

Now that we have all the basics we need to calculate our FLEX settings, let's take a
look at the chart we'll be using. In your Wilco Checklists and Procedures guide, you'll
find a set of 6 take off tables. There are 3 tables for Flaps configuration 1+F and 3
tables for Flaps configuration 2. Each configuration set is designed for Pressure
Altitudes of 0 ft, 1000 ft, and 2000 ft. If you are in an area where the pressure altitude is
higher than 2500 ft, the A320 Performance guide written by Matt Zagoren has charts for
PAs of up to 8500 ft. Now, let's go over the important parts of these charts.

A. Flaps Configuration - Different Charts for different configurations, use Config 2 only
at higher TOWs.
B. Pressure Altitude - Different Charts for different pressure altitudes ranging from 100,
1000, and 2000.
C. Outside and Flex Temperature
D. Runway Length in Meters
E. Maximum TOW in metric tons
F. V-Speeds

Now that we have gone over the parts of the chart, it's time to calculate our FLEX.
Since we are under 70 tons, I will use Flaps Config 1+F and of course, use the 2000 ft
Pressure Altitude Chart since that is our PA. To find your FLEX, first you need to find
your baseline numbers. These are your maximum TOGO numbers. First, find your
runway length. Since our runway is shorter than 3000 meters, but greater than 2750
meters, we will use 2750 as our runway length. Next, find your current outside
temperature. Since 15 degrees is not listed, we will take the higher number, so our
TOGA temperature is 20 degrees.

This has given us a Max TOW of 77.6 metric tons. If our aircraft weighed more than
77.6 metric tons, we would have to go to Flaps Config 2 or take a longer runway. Now,
since we weigh much less than 77.6 metric tons, we will scroll down the chart under the
same runway distance until we find a number that is closest to our TOW. Since our
TOW is 58 metric tons, the lowest and charted minimum is 61.8 metric tons. We will
then slide over and see what temperature corresponds with this block. The temperature
is 64 degrees, which now becomes our FLEX number.

Now that we have our maximum FLEX number and runway length, we will use the
information in the block to get our V-Speeds.

Our V1 is 141 knots

Our Vr is 141 knots
Our V2 is 142 knots
Our MTOW is 61.8 metric tons
It is important to know that it's always best to go up in weight. So, if we our aircraft were
at 61.8 metric tons, I would not use the FLEX of 64, I would use 62 just to give me that
little extra breathing room.

Now that we have calculated our FLEX and V-Speeds, it's time to place them in the
MCDU. On the PERF page, you will directed to the TAKE OFF phase screen. Input
your calculated V-Speeds by typing them in the scratch pad and pressing the button
that correlates to the speed you typed.

You should now have your V-Speeds locked in to the MCDU.

Next, we are going to talk about THR RED (Throttle Reduction) and ACC (Acceleration)
Altitudes. On a normal airbus flight, Your THR RED and ACC altitudes will always be
around 1500 ft AGL (Above Ground Level). During Noise Abatement (8 pm - 8 am
local) your THR RED will be 1500 ft AGL and your ACC altitude will be 3000 ft AGL.
THR RED is the moment when you reduce the thrust from TOGA or FLEX to THR CLB
or the Climb Mode. ACC is when your aircraft begins to accelerate from V2+10 to 250
knots. The Wilco MCDU automatically calculates both numbers at 1500 ft AGL for you
and inputs them, but for the purpose of this tutorial, I'm going to change the ACC
altitude to 3000 ft AGL. Since the airport elevation is 2,181 ft MSL, I will add 3,000 ft,
and my new ACC altitude will be 5,181 ft MSL.

Because we only want to change the ACC altitude, we will simply edit that portion of the
entry. To edit any number behind a slash "/", you must type the slash "/" first and then
the entry. So we would type /5181 into the scratch pad then click the appropriate entry
button.

Our THR ACC altitude is now set.

Next, let's input our FLAPS/THS setting. THS is the trim setting you will use during
departure. The entry you make in this block has no affect on the aircraft, it's just good
to have that for a reminder. Now, we know what our Flaps setting is going to be, but we
don't know what our Trim setting is going to be. To find this out, we must go back to the
Wilco Checklists and Procedures guide. Find the Trim setting calculation bar.

You will notice two sets of numbers, the top being the take off center of gravity and the
bottom being the trim position. Everything left of the "0" is Nose Up, everything right is
Nose Down. Let's go back to the ZFWCG that we wrote down earlier and line it up with
the chart. A CG of 25 will get us close to 1UP on the trim setting, so this it what we will
use.

Go back to your MCDU and type your Flap setting (1) and your Trim setting (1UP) like
this: 1/1UP then input it into the MCDU.

You now have set your Flaps and Trim settings into the computer. Finally, we need to
set our FLEX TO TEMP. From the chart we determined that our FLEX TEMP was 64,
so type 64 into the scratch pad and input it into the MCDU.

Congratulations! The Take Off preparations are complete! You might be wonder about
the TO SHIFT and ENG OUT ACC areas. TO SHIFT is for if you are using less than
the full length of the runway, ie departing from an intersection. Because this is a difficult
task in MSFS since we can't really know the distances remaining, we don't go into this
part of the MCDU. The ENG OUT ACC altitude is just like the ACC altitude only this is
for if you lose an engine. You will want to keep this at the computed altitude which is
always 1500 ft AGL.

I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of this series, the next tutorial will go into inserting a flight
plan into the MCDU and Take Off procedures.