A320 Autopilot out of KATL

[Lotharen7659]

I used msfs planner to program the stock a320 and useing Pilot2atc. Same route between both.

Im flying out of KATL, using runway 09L and the Plmmr3 sid. However, once I got to the waypoint plmmr it just started going in circles. Its done this 3 times!

Is this issue cause by autopilot or could I be doing something wrong?

[Lotharen7659]

So, ive been look at the SID. Could it be autopilot is searching for the waypoint because my altitude is incorrect?

[Beechc23]

Moved to Community Support-Aircraft and Systems for better visibility.

[mdapol]

What does the FMA show when it “starts going in circles”?

[HawkMoth9135]

Could a discontinuity in the MCDU Flight Plan, after PLMMR, cause that behaviour?

I’ve never left any discontinuities early in the flight plan but if the AP doesn’t know where to go, could it keep trying to find its way back to the same waypoint?

[Lotharen7659]

It just shows its next waypoint is Plmmr. Im too new to passenger planes to figure out how to force the next waypoint. I was around 2-3 thousand feet by that point.

Edit: let me elaborate on what it does. The moment I get to plmmr it banks north, heads in that direction for about 20 secs and then starts the perpetual right hand circling. Nothing I do short of cutting autopilot fixes it. If I do cut AP off and then back on it will attempt to go back to plmmr and repeates the same event.

[crazyhorsejesol]

It seems to me that you mentioned the magic word “discontinuity”.

I have been struggling for weeks for the same problem of losing the STAR transition fix,on a few airports, along with many others in the forum when,this current week,repeating many times the same route with this problem, I’ve noticed the follow:

1. when I set the flight plan on the worldmap the Transition fix is on it.Verified scrolling to the right the many waypoints to the approach.

2. Once I hit “Fly” and I am on the runway, I check and verify that the Transition fix is missing from the VFR Map and from the MCDU as well. So there is a discontinuity.

3. Just repeated the flight plan from worldmap and ADDED the missing transition fix on the MCDU and the flight ended fine without circling by the destination airport.

It seems to be the workaround solution to this bug.I will check againg with another couple of routes where I found the same issue.

Thanks a lot HawkMoth9135!!

[mdapol]

That’s not the FMA.

I really wish when people reported problems like this they included a video of it happening, including close-ups of all the screens. It’s almost impossible to debug this with only your verbal description.

[Lotharen7659]

Ill have to try it again and record it. Its not something I tend to do so often forget its an option. Ill see if I can do this tonight and record the flight from take off to the point where it mess up.

I really thought it would be an easy fix and inly due to my inexperience. I did read the SID again and it says climb at 500 FM until 1527, im assuming thats the altitude. Im quite sure I was above this. Ill try and set this constraint during my test and see what happens.

[crazyhorsejesol]

Lotharen7659 I read your post again but there is something I am missing: you mention a route from KATL…but a route must go from point A to point B . Which is your point B ??

[Lotharen7659]

Sorry, it was KCTL.

[crazyhorsejesol]

I would like to repeat your flight but I cannot find KCTL neither on worldmap nor on LittleNavMap.
Please post the correct flight plan ,that I suppose it’s an IFR Low or High altitude airways,with DEPARTURE ,ARRIVALS and APPOACH data from the worldmap.

[Lotharen7659]

Sorry, it is KCLT, bit of dyslexia going on there.

My arrival runway was 18C using ils.

[crazyhorsejesol]

Just ended the flight at KCLT. No problems encountered.
Passed PMMR straight,enroute ,Jedko Transition, Approach and landing all fine.See attached pics.
My Arrival set-up was : Direct.
Cannot tell why you’ve encountered problems.

I am on PC.

You might want to repeat the flight and,if you still have the same problem report to the forum giving more details from you side.

[Lotharen7659]

I figured out the issue. Apparently Avilasoft EFB was the culprit. If I attempted inputting flight info in-route it would make the aircraft attempt to start from the first waypoint. I was setting the FP in it before starting the sim which erased the SIDs and STARs. So I would try to add them back in which caused the problem. However, if you set that up during preflight and it won’t cause any issues.