Airbus navigation screen shows wrong heading and distance to destination; autopilot following wrong path

[mghostsoft]

Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

No

Have you disabled/removed all your mods and addons? If the issue still occurs with no mods and add-ons, please continue to report your issue. If not, please move this post to the Community Support section.

Yes. Nothing in the Packages\Community folder.

Which aircraft are you reporting an issue about? (Please also add the proper tag for it)

Airbus A319, A320neo, and A321neo.

Brief description of the issue:

Once selected a destination on the world map and start the flight, the flight plan destination is automatically set to my selection. Since recently, the navigation path has been problematic.

1. I was no longer able to see the route (green line on the navigation screen) until being very close to the destination, at which point I could see that the green line was from another direction.
2. The distance to the destination has been vastly off. It usually shows 4000-7000nm when my plane was actually 0-100nm away from the destination.
3. When autopilot is engaged, it is supposed to follow the navigation route towards the destination, but now it always turns to another random direction.

All these symptoms are as if it can’t correctly determine my plane’s current location, e.g. my plane is actually 100nm south to the destination, but for some reason the navigation system thinks it is 6000nm northwest to the destination. I’ve only started noticing it since less than one week ago (~10/1/2023).

Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:

Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:

1. In the home screen, click World Map, then select a destination. Departure location is optional.
2. Select Airbus A319, A320neo, or A321neo.
3. Start the flight. Observe the navigation screen. The distance and heading should be both wrong.
4. Engage autopilot. It will try to turn to a direction that isn’t heading to the destination.

PC specs and/or peripheral set up if relevant:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor 4.20 GHz
RAM: 32.0 GB
Graphic: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Windows 11 Pro 22621.2361

Build Version # when you first started experiencing this issue:

1.34.16.0 (maybe earlier)

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For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

[PacificSet90456]

@mghostsoft

Departure location is optional.

You have to start SOMEWHERE! It appears you are attempting to fly VFR directly to KJFK from some random location in the world without a flight plan. If I was to attempt this, I’d determine the direct heading to KJFK and fly using HDG mode only. Forget about the green line and using LNAV because it probably wouldn’t be correct.

[mghostsoft]

Hi PacificSet90456, it doesn’t matter if I set the departure location or not. I can set departure as KSEA and destination as CYVR (or whatever other airports) and still get this issue.

[PacificSet90456]

I cannot duplicate your problem. I set departure KSEA and destination CYVR in the World Map using the A320. The course is displayed correctly and the autopilot follows the path correctly. If your problem started recently, you might try removing whatever has been installed since that date.

[mghostsoft]

This issue still persists. I uninstalled the game and did a fresh installation from Xbox Game Pass, and did not install any additional content, but the issue still exists. I also tried to restore all settings to default, but still no help. As of now, the game is up to date.

[mghostsoft]

Basically, no matter how far or close the destination is, it always shows 6000+nm with wrong flight path, and autopilot doesn’t work because it tries to follow the wrong path. For example, after setting the departure and arrival airports as KSEA and CYVR, I expect it to be around 110nm far and direction ~32, but it actually shows as 6600+nm away at direction 5. I tried a lot of different combinations over the past few months and it’s always the case.

[DementedCorn327]

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

No

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

Setup an IFR flight from KSEA to CYVR in the World map using the base MSFS A320. Start the flight, route (green line) and distance are displayed, autopilot is following correct heading.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

Before takeoff:

In flight:

[DementedCorn327]

Hi @mghostsoft ,

Since @PacificSet90456 and I cannot reproduce your issue I moved your report to the User Support Hub Aircraft & Systems to get support from the community.

I am seeing you’ve added tags a-319/a-321. Are you having the issue with the base MSFS A320 or with A320/A319/A321 aircraft from a 3rd party developer ?

[zooze74]

The issue is you dont know how to programme the MCDU. Just because youve put it into the map screen for your flight plan means nothing to the MCDU.

Init the flight and pop in the departure and arrival airports and make sure you activate it and insert it into the flight plan.

What is on your flight plan screen and do you need to clear a discontinuity?

[mghostsoft]

Hi @DementedCorn327 , I’m seeing this issue on most Airbus aircraft, including the built-in A320neo, as well as the A319 and A321 obtained from the in-game store. This issue happens even when the A319 and A321 are not installed. No third party contents were installed.

[mghostsoft]

@PacificSet90456 As a workaround, when I start the flight, if I follow the following steps, then it would temporarily get corrected during this flight:

1. Click DIR button
2. Click the F-PLN WPTS button, then WAYPOINT button, to set the WAYPOINT to the same value as final destination.
3. Click TMPY DIRECT, to direct to WAYPOINT instead of the destination initially entered.
4. Now it shows the correct direction and distance in the navigator.

[mghostsoft]

Hi @zooze74 , you are right that I’m not familiar with how MCDU works. However, even if I don’t fly according to how it was set, I expect it show the correct distance to the destination in the plan. Please see my post above for how the flight plan screen looks when I’m seeing an issue. Thanks.

[zooze74]

It will only show the distance to the next waypoint/star in the plan. I thought I’d do a quick video for you, I’m pretty sure you’ve set most things up correctly, but just in case it helps.

MSFS Basic Nav Setup

Try doing what I did in the above video, just to make sure the plane isn’t bugged and see if it works and routes as you’d expect. What I did notice is your distance is 0 nm to SGSZ so your plane is just going to go around in circles

[DementedCorn327]

Let’s take as example KSEA to CYVR. When in the flight planner do you see this route ?:

Same in the VFR Map ?:

If yes, then route waypoints should be correctly loaded into your FMC.

[zooze74]

Remember though on study aircraft like the A310 and ATR 42/72 it wont laod into your MCDU, you’ll either need to import from simbrief, or put it into the MCDU manually. Its a good idea not to rely on the flight planner screen in MSFS as its really meaningless, always better to do it via the above.

[DementedCorn327]

Agree if you have simbrief and need to use an external tool for those study planes. Nevertheless, OP should be able to import a flight plan into the base MSFS A320 through the integrated flight planner.

[sneaky74]

@zooze74

It will only show the distance to the next waypoint/star in the plan. I thought I’d do a quick video for you, I’m pretty sure you’ve set most things up correctly, but just in case it helps.

Thanks @zooze74 that’s a really good video for folks out there clearly struggling with the systems. Nice one!

[mghostsoft]

Hi, in the case of KSEA to CYVR, in the flight planner (before starting the flight), I see the same route as yours.

After starting the flight, in the VFR map, I don’t see the route, and the navigator still shows wrong distance to destination.

[DementedCorn327]

I see that you have a custom livery. Have you made the same test with all your marketplace addons uninstalled ? or do you know how to start the sim in safe mode ?

[mghostsoft]

I did a test after completely uninstall it from my PC and did a fresh install, and before installing any plugins, but saw the same issue already.

I entered safe mode by using the trick mentioned here, and the same issue persists.

I also have an Xbox Series X and tested with the same account. It synced all my settings but the navigator shows correct distance.