A Complete Guide to the A320 Family in Infinite Flight

Flight Simulators Tutorials
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Your Guide to the Airbus A320 Family (Infinite Flight)

The A320 is one of the most popular jet airliners ever built, and as a result, it is featured in almost every flight simulator on the market. In this tutorial you will find the plane’s flying guide and performance characteristics. I hope you will find it useful!

The A320ceo Family - A Technical Overview

Measurement A318 A319 A320 A321
Length 31.44m 33.84m 37.57m 44.51m
Wingspan 34.10m 35.80m 35.80m 35.80m
Aircraft height 12.56m 11.76m 11.76m 11.76m
Fuselage Width all 3.95m
MTOW 68t 75.5t 78t 93.5t
MLW 57.50t 62.50t 66t 77.80t
Typical Cruise Speed all M. 78
MMO all M. 82
Service Ceiling all 39100-41000ft
Engines *PW6000/CFM56-5B all others IAE V2500-A5/CFM56-5B
Thrust 96-106kN 98-120kN 98-120kN 133-147kN
Range 3100nmi 3750nmi 3300nmi 3200nmi

*There is no PW6000 in Infinite Flight’s A318.

Cockpit Guide

The A320 has a relatively easy-to-understand cockpit, so I believe this tutorial will cover the essential aspects of the flight deck which are essential for flying.

1. PFD/ND

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*PFD - Primary Flight Display
*ND - Navigation Display

PFD:

  1. Indicated Airspeed/IAS indicator. The instrument that measures IAS, the speed you rely on for take-off, landing etc (as opposed to Mach, Ground speed and TAS).

  2. Attitude indicator. Shows how much up/down you’re pitching or how far left/right the plane is banked. Banking beyond 35° and pitching up/down 20/10° is not recommended. In real life the Airbus flight computer limits pitch to a maximum of 30° up and 15° down.

  3. Altimeter. Measures your altitude MSL.

  4. VSI - Vertical Speed indicator. Measured in +/-fpm (ft per minute), a VS of -1000fpm will make the plane descend 1000ft each minute. During normal approaches (3° glide slope) a descent rate of over -1000fpm is unfavourable.

  5. Heading Indicator - shows the current magnetic heading (relative to North 000°) of the plane.

ND panel:

  1. Ground Speed, True Airspeed and Wind Indicator
  • Ground speed - the speed of the plane moving over ground.
  • True airspeed - basically the speed of a plane calculated relative to the surrounding air.
  • Wind Indicator - a display where data of the current wind outside the aircraft is shown (heading and speed).
  1. The ND: shows all waypoint and navigation information (eg TOD, ILS course pointer, LNAV/GPS). The outer ring also shows the heading, but in increments of 30° between each number.

Autopilot panel. For now, there are no mode indicator lights for the A320 AP (unless it gets reworked again later on.)

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SPD - speed, IAS below FL280. Above that it will switch to Mach speed and whatever you do, fly it below the MMO.

HDG - Heading. Direction in degrees relative to magnetic north.

ALT - altitude MSL.

VS - vertical speed (fpm).

Centre Panel Display - EICAS, ECAM etc

*EICAS - Engine-indicating and crew-alerting system

*ECAM - Electronic centralised aircraft monitor

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  1. Flap speeds placard. It displays the maximum speeds of different stages of flap extension.

  2. Backup attitude indicator. When flying in real life, if the main PFD fails pilots have to refer to this one.

  3. ECAM/engines display. In real life this part is usually used to show engine data and ECAM messages at the bottom (of the section).

  4. This is supposed to be the EICAS (which provides engine data but with temperature and weight in the same box) in real world flying but that is not modeled in the IF A320. In IF that is used to show the aircraft weight and temperature only.

  5. Clock, middle number is UTC time.

  6. Landing gear lever.

Centre Pedestal and Surroundings - A320

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  1. Captain’s right rudder control. Used to control the plane on ground and mainly for crosswind (in the air)

2,3. A320 MCDU (Multi-Function control and display unit), works along with FMS.

  1. F/O left rudder pedal. Serves the same purpose as the Captain’s ones (except for left and right.)

  2. Thrust levers. Controls the thrust output of the engines. There are two levers for two engines.

  3. Engine start switches. The controls where the engines are started in real life, but they are not animated in Infinite Flight.

  4. Speedbrake handle - moves the spoilers to various positions, including Flight, Armed, Off. Note that there are multiple speedbrake positions in real life.

  5. Flap handle - used to extend and retract the flaps. There are five main flap positions: 0, 1, 2, 3 and Full. See replies for more details.

A320 Family Takeoff and Landing Profiles

I have put together a little table of the V-speeds for the entire A320 family here for both takeoff and landing.

  • Takeoff V-Speeds - A318
Load + Flaps Takeoff N1% V1 Rotate V2
100%, Flaps 2 90-95% 139 144 148
75%, Flaps 2 87-92% 130 135 139
50%, Flaps 1 82-87% 122 127 131
25%, Flaps 1 80-85% 112 117 121
  • Take-off V-Speeds - A319
Load + Flaps Takeoff N1% V1 Rotate V2
100%, Flaps 2 90-95% 147 152 156
75%, Flaps 2 87-92% 136 142 145
50%, Flaps 1 82-87% 125 130 134
25%, Flaps 1 80-85% 113 118 122
  • Takeoff V-Speeds - A320
Load + Flaps Takeoff N1% V1 Rotate V2
100%, Flaps 2 90-95% 144 151 155
75%, Flaps 2 87-92% 135 140 144
50%, Flaps 1 82-87% 125 130 134
25%, Flaps 1 80-85% 114 119 123
  • Takeoff V-Speeds - A321
Load + Flaps Takeoff N1% V1 Rotate V2
100%, Flaps 3 90-95% 143 148 152
75%, Flaps 2 87-92% 137 142 146
50%, Flaps 1 82-87% 127 132 136
25%, Flaps 1 80-85% 115 120 124
  • Maximum advised rotation angle for A321 is 7.5°. Rotate at a relatively shallow angle and pitch up to 10° once after obtaining adequate clearance from the runway in order to prevent tailstrikes.

Approach and Landing Speeds - A320 family.

  • A318 Landing Speeds
Load + Flaps Approach at 10nm Landing
MLW (61%), Flaps Full 126 123
50%, Flaps Full 123 119
25%, Flaps Full 118 113
  • A319 Landing Speeds
Load + Flaps Approach at 10nm Landing
MLW (65%) 130 125
50%, Flaps Full 126 121
25%, Flaps Full 122 117
  • A320 Landing Speeds
Load + Flaps Approach at 10nm Landing
MLW (68%) 135 130
50%, Flaps Full 129 124
25%, Flaps Full 125 120
  • A321 Landing Speeds
Load + Flaps Approach at 10nm Landing
MLW (68%) 140 135
50%, Flaps Full 135 120
25%, Flaps Full 129 124

Other Useful Tips for Flying the A320 Family:

  • Typically climb rates range from +2000 to +2500fpm, depending on aircraft and weight.

  • You can expect decent landings from the A320 family, just don’t overflare or either go too fast/slow and you’re good to go.

  • The A320 family usually cruises between 33000 and 37000ft.

So I guess that’s it for today, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Bye

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I apologise, I did do this on a computer this time, I didn’t press the button accidentally, it’s just that Discourse was glitched or something and it created the topic for no reason when it isn’t finished yet.

Thanks for understanding :slight_smile:

I’m trying to finish it off now.

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I think it’s too long, maybe separate the other info after the pedestal into a reply?

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Will do! For the meantime I am going to continue working on the takeoff and landing profiles, and separate the pedestal info after all that. Thanks for your patience

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There are five main flap positions: 0, 1, 2, 3 and Full. However, there is actually one more called ‘1+F’ in a real A320. What it means is that, due to the A320’s design, ‘Flaps 1’ when extended in the air (for example during approaches) only extends the slats. Nevertheless, there’s more to it. When ‘flaps 1’ are extended during takeoff, the aircraft is actually running the flaps on 1+F because both the slats and flaps are extended. (The ‘F’ means ‘flaps’, hence 1 (slats) + F (flaps).) There is no true ‘1’ position in IF, because whenever you select ‘1’ the flaps always come down along with the slats, meaning that it is more of a ‘1+F’

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Thanks !
I love flying the A320 :heart_eyes:

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Glad that you liked it! Thanks!

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