I am having trouble starting the A 320. It seems that I have to complete the full checklist prior to starting or it will not start?
Is this necessary?
No. Forgive me as airliners aren’t my wheelhouse but this alone is enough to have the engines start…
Batteries - On
APU - On and then Start
APU Bleed - On
Ignition - IGN/START
ENG Master - On
Hello Shoobee.
I’m part of the Flight Crew in the MicrosoftFlightSimForum. We assist simmers!
I fly the a320 Airbus. Retired, so on most days.
Feel free to add me.
Gloomylake935(Rich)
My “memory items checklist” for starting the A320 inibuilds v2 (the plane that comes with MSFS 2024) are:
Overhead:
- activate external power (EXT PWR) this will give you power from the ground-power-unit (GPU) at the gate while you start everything
- enable the 2 batteries (BAT 1 BAT 2) these are labeled “OFF” in white
- enable all the pumps ( L TK PUMPS 1, L TK PUMPS 2, etc) these are also in white
- turn on the nav systems (dials upper left, set them all to NAV) - this will show on the ECAM (upper middle screen) how long until nav is available
- turn on emergency exit lights by setting to ARM (switch almost all the way to the bottom right)
- turn on seatbelt/no-smoking to ON (directly to the left of the previous switch)
- STROBE to auto
- turn crew oxygen supply to ON (left side)
- Finally turn on the APU Master (lower middle)
- Hit the button directly below for APU start swtich (give it a few seconds)
- Observe on the SD (bottom middle screen) APU status/activation. Once it shows “AVAIL” the APU is ready, hit the APU bleed (middle, above the APU switches) on the overhead to more or less complete what you need to do in the OH.
During this point of the APU starting you can go through the other startup such as getting simbrief setup with your MCDU and what not, but I’ma skip over that and assume you want to do some basic flying with no flight plan.
Once the APU is ready, and ignoring all other settings/configurations tied with your flightplan. If you just wanted to get up and go at this point do the following:
- disconnect the GPU to let the APU take over all power. Verify the APU bleed switch is on (last step earlier)
- get pushback either from ATC, or the EFB (electronic flight book, on your right).
- handle the parking break as required during pushback
- turn on the beacon light on the OH (its directly next to the strobe light)
- turn engine start switch to the right for “start”
- turn engine 2 on to start (the right switch usually goes first)
- observe its progress on the SD and ECAM.
- repeat for second engine
Once you see AVAIL on the ECAM you are ready to taxi out and fly.
(followup procedures are also skipped, such as lights for taking off/taxi)
GOTCHAS:
- don’t forget to turn on the APU properly (3 switches), this is required to actually start the engines
- don’t forget to activate the fuel pumps, otherwise the engines will seem like they never “start”
- if you already flew, the second time you startup the engines they will be significantly slower to restart, this is by design and realistic
Other note:
Without entering anything into the MCDU, you wont get much guidance for takeoff, such as performance calculations. You also wont get any flight plan and thus can only use the autopilot in specific ways yourself.
1 Like
Thank you very much. I have been flying the Toliss A319, A320 and the A321 on xplane for a few years. Thought I had missed something.
Another problem I’m having is when I’m at the gate another plane will be put on top of me.
Thought of another thing. MSFS tells me that I do not have enough memory on my video card.
AJ
Your last - I’ve suddenly had that start happening to me, despite upgrading my GPU. I have a feeling that something on the servers is overloading the programme, causing the resources warning or even causing a CTD.
Well I almost made it into the sky. LOL
I could not get the parking brake off. I would do it manually. And I cleared all the buttons on everything. Still did not move. And then the program shut down. I have been studying this program for three months. Not easy.
Hello,
I am trying to fly the A320 V2, I have watched a million tutorials and they all say to select the external power. But it isnt showing as available, It doesnt let me toggle it on the ipad.
Also when i press the APU master switch it doesnt do anything, i’m guessing that’s because I haven’t got power.
Please Help
Anyone know why its showing red on the Ipad?
Hey @Daniel20114904 , the Airbus A320 can be powered up even without External Power. Just ensure both of your BAT-teries are on, and then press the APU Master switch. Wait 5 seconds, then press the APU Start switch (directly below it), and you should hear the APU begin it’s startup. After the APU fully starts, the screens will come to life.
Ok I will try that
Do I just have to turn on the batteries before that or is there any other basic things I am forgetting. I am quite a beginner to this sim
Thank you for your reply
Nope, just the batteries.
1 Like
Hi again,
Just tried it and it is still not working, I pressed both batteries, nothing happened when I did that (I don’t know if that is normal or not) I then pressed the APU master for 5 seconds, nothing lit up, I still tried pressing the APU start and nothing happened.
I really don’t know what the problem is.
Has anyone ever had this problem?
Doesn’t the APU need the fuel pumps to operate not just the battery?
I’m on the game so I will try right now.
I hope you’re right 
1 Like
Just tried and it is still not working 
I don’t understand how in every video I watch they have external power but I can’t get it ?
Is it something to do with my settings ?
Go into you menu where you can open and close doors and enable the GPU (ground power unit). Then, the indicator should show external power available. Now I’m talking about the Fenix controls. If you are on a different A320 then the steps might be different.
I will try that
Thank you
I’m actually in the inibuilds and it didn’t work.
Does anyone know why in the inibuilds A320 V2 when i go into the Ipad then ground, the toggle button for the GPU is red?
And is there any setting I need to do so that the ground power is already connected to the plane when I load into the airport ?