Since about 2 or 3 weeks ago, I have untimely disconnection of AP (1 or 2). Immediately after, the A320 goes up with full power.
I have that with light weight (around 45000 kg), or around 60000 kg).
When in cruise, everything seems to be ok, and then, it starts to disconnect. Then, I have that every 2’ or 3’.
Could well be that the AP is auto-disconnecting for a good, logical Aviation reason… typically a input to the yoke, or the AP reaching the end of it’s controllable range (ie Excessive trim etc )
To be sure there is no input from the joystick, I put a « dead zone » of 10% on every axe. And still have the problem.
Do you know if we can see the informations from the joystick in debug mode ?
I’ll have also to test that without the joystick…
What I’m saying is the FBW guys have a Discord for this product, and that’s where they provide support. I’d have thought that would be a better place to get support?
I’ve had the AP disconnect a couple of times on the A320NX recently. One time was the OAT 250C random bug, and the other time it was a pre stall warning. There was a red message in the ECAM saying “A.FLOOR” which turns out to be a stall protection mechanism when throttle not in CLB detent & with AOA too high. Worth checking ECAM for any messages even if this isn’t your issue.
A.FLOOR description here- https://docs.flybywiresim.com/pilots-corner/advanced-guides/protections/afloor/
Thank you for these clues… I’ll will check that tomorrow morning… I saw indeed several time à A FLOOR on FMA.
But is it possible to have that with AP engaged !? Or may be I have a CG problem ? I normally take off with something like 25% CG. And when airborne, I thought the AP Trim manage that…
As your post is about issues with 3rd party content, I’ve moved your topic to the #third-party-addon-discussion:aircraft category which is more appropriate
I really don’t know enough about other possible A320NX explanations of ECAM messages and AP connection/disconnection (i’m no expert), these were just my own experiences/observations with recent AP disconnections. It completely threw me as there was no stall audio warning for A.FLOOR (I guess it kicks in as a pre stall warning that something isn’t in the correct config), just the TCAM message and AP disconnect. Nose down to reduce AOA, let air speed pick up, throttle set to CLB and AP was engagable again. The OAT 250C bug on the other hand is very random in nature but has been happening to a lot of people recently at all kinds of altitudes and at random times of the day from 1000ft to FL450 and everywhere inbetween it would seem. I haven’t seen it happen for a few days now though.
I should add that I don’t change CG value and just take off with default loadings. I’m not that advanced, so can’t possibly comment on this aspect and how it would affect AOA and A.FLOOR triggering.
I just had this happen flying KOAK to KPHX. It seems connected to when the weather drops. I had a 55 knot TW that went to 3 Knots. AP disconnected and altitude dropped 1500 ft. Recovered and everything was fine except no weather.
After several tests to find out how to solve my problem:
I disconnected my Joystick to be sure that there is no input from it. Could be the source of a disconnection of AP.
Once stabilised at à FL (whichever it is), after several minutes, AP is disconnecting.
I watched at the Auto Trim on the ECAM FCTL, values are from 1 down to 1,5 UP during the flight when AP goes on disconnection.
At the moment of the disconnection, if I take the aircraft immediately in manual, I avoid an Alpha floor alert, nose up, Toga thrust, etc.
I use the 0.7.3 stable version and I’ve not seen any issues like this.
Do you manually startup? Are all your fuel pumps turned on? It sounds weird.
Try starting automatically by departing from the runway instead of cold and dark at gate just in case.
If A.FLOOR is kicking in at sometime other that takeoff & at a random FL then it
sounds like the AP is trying to maintain the FL but aircraft is losing speed. what
is you airspeed doing? Is the autothrottle engaged? Are you definitely in CLB detent?
Does the AP disconnect also disconnect the autothrottle?
When it happens what does your PFD1 say at the top in the various columns.
The clues will be there along with messages in the ECAM.
I just did a 2 hr fligth this morning in the FBWA320NX and had no issues. No OAT bugs encounterd today either!
Thank you for this long message! Here are some ansers :
W11
MSFS2020 : version 1.21.13.0
FBW stable version or developpment version : sameproblem!
** FBW developpment version : last one.
** FBW stable version : “built”: “2021-11-21T01:55:55+00:00”, “ref”: “v0.7.3”
manually startup at the gate or automatically on RWY
all your fuel pumps are on
Airspeed : climbing at 250kt up to FL100, or futher clibing at 290 kt. Or stable in FL.
AP doesn’t disconnect the autothrottle. But if I don’t take the A/C in manual, it climbs hard, and I have an ALPHA FLOOR and so on.
PFD when disconnection : FMA seams to be normal.
I saw that in these 2 cases (see photos), I have a +1,5 G on the ECAM SD ! At the moment of the deconnection !
The G LOAD +1.5 orange warning may be the clue. I haven’t seen it before and Googling it on FBW website says-
Normal Law (Pitch) creates a too small pitch rate on low speed or "g-load on higher speeds"
Sadly wery few details. It could relate to automated Load Factor Limitations kicking in?
One thing I notice is that you have the FMC speed in ‘managed mode’ is there a reason for this? You are effectively letting the aircraft FMC decide what speed to fly at. Can you try switching it to ‘selected mode’ and dialing back the speed a bit to see if G-LOAD message changes?
I also note that on FBW website they say that its essential to have a well defined ‘CLB’ detent.
Also “AP is disconnected due to sidestick or rudder input”. May be worth checking your stick calibration for unknown glitches or movements etc that you don’t know are there. Also check the calibration of your stick in the flypad as well.
It’s certainly weird and new to me. Maybe @Neo4316 would be able to help you out with a suggestion.
About speed managed mode, I tried booth during my tests. Just to see. Same result.
Indeed, G load at +1,5 is clue. And at these déconnections, the flight is always smooth, constant speed, in level, and suddenly, something appends. Sometimes, I can see a small sort of « bump », like a small turbulence, the AP reacts moving the trim foreward (down), which doesn’t make sense, because 1’’ after, the A/C has nose up and want to climb…
« Can you try switching it to ‘selected mode’ and dialing back the speed a bit to see if G-LOAD message changes? » I’ll try that…
About CLB detent, I recalibrated my joystick once again, and the FMA displays SPEED when that happens. And to be sure, I disconnected my Joystick once airborn !
G load would certainly change with turbulence esp is it was abrupt. I haven’t seen this message or experienced AP dropout before for this tough and I’ve had some big weird ‘turbulent’ changes in A320NX while cruising athigh FL’s. I really don’t know what could be going on. Maybe one of the more knowledgable A320NX people can shed some light on this for you.
Maybe change this post title to include FBW A320 NX, that will get more attention. Also maybe add in tags for A320nx, flybywire and a320 too.
Hmmm… I’m not too sure about this… I’ve never seen a G-LOAD message before. If @ClownSphere5881 is using the Stable version, then they should be under the default MSFS payload and CG setting. The Dev version won’t be affected by it.
All I can say is, make sure you set your Flight model to Modern, don’t use legacy. And make sure you have enough deadzone on all axis, and your assistance settings are all set to hard/true to life.