Once I start to taxi in the Airbus, and as soon as it’s moving - put the throttle back to idle - the plane just keeps on rolling, faster and faster, like it’s going downhill.
Is this a bug or is my ‘idle’ not really idle? The lever is in idle, I pressed F1 to make sure… shouldn’t the rolling just stop?
That’s normal behavior. To stop you need to apply the brakes.
Well okay… it’s just that with every airplane in FSX and MSFS, they all stop once you go to idle… they roll out and stop… it also doesn’t make sense that it would actually speed up without power?
It all depends how the real aircraft behaves, right?
So an Airbus in idle will start moving and speed up? Cause yes, it actually starts moving when I release the parking brake.
And of course, if that’s the behavior of an Airbus. I’m basing most of my sim experience on PMDG, and none of their planes is speeding off on its own in idle. So indeed I’m a bit confused.
Now, I do usually carry little fuel, so maybe the weight is a factor. I’ll load it up on a next flight and see if it goes a bit slower.
That’s normal behaviour for an airbus. A real A320 pilot has confirmed this in his tutorial video. Check out 320 Sim Pilot - YouTube if you want to learn more.
PMDG are all Boeings, so you can’t really compare apple to apple in this case. Airbus behaves differently, and even so, the A320neo has a different engine than the previous A320ceo. The neo has a bigger and more powerful engines, so even on idle, there’s enough thrust to get it moving. Again, this is normal behaviour.
That’s why it’s best that if you have an extra axis control in your hardware that you don’t use (if you don’t have a pedal for toe brakes) use that extra free axis for Brake axis. That way you can control how much braking you want to apply. Real A320 pilot also controls the taxiing speed using the toe brakes.
Yup Air Bus especially with the NEO engines can move under little/idle power. Your are lucky, once they have worked on it a bit more, you will be able to do single engine taxi, and cross bleed starts… That’s where the real fun starts!
For the Airbus, as has been said, it’s completely normal. The NEOs may be a little different than the older CEO A320s which had either CFM or IAE V2500 engines. The IAE’s had a little higher idle and would easily start rolling upon brake release. The CFMs generally required a little thrust to get them rolling.
Even the C172 I fly will require me to pull power below the typical 1,000 RPM to keep from taxiing too fast and using too much brake to maintain a comfortable taxi speed.
Hmmm yes, that’s actually the irritating part about this. I’m limited in my controls, so the brake is just on or off. Makes for a very choppy taxi. And I had the distinct feeling this taxiing behavior was recently added (but probably I’m confusing the FBW one with the Asobo one). It’s more relaxing if the plane rolls out and stops when you go to idle.
Well anyway, that’s settled then. One more reason to beg PMDG to hurry with their Boeings!
Nah, not recently, I’ve been doing Idle taxiing in the FBW since they updated the engine model last year. What’s your control hardware? xbox controller or joystick or hotas?
I guess one idea that you might want to try is to assign the brake axis into the throttle itself. But make it reverse axis. That means if you’re on IDLE, the brake is applied, but as you push your throttle forward, the brakes gradually releases. That way, you can control how much thrust and how much brake pressure using the same control.
the A320 will roll with idle power and keep gaining speed, assign your brakes (not parking brake) to your joystick. As neo stated watch 320 sim pilot for more detail, but basically on his taxi tutorial he lets the a320 roll until 30 knots Ground speed then brakes until Ground speed is down to 10 knots then repeat. The reason is the brakes on the a320 are carbon and wear quickly if you are constantly applying brakes
Does that really works in the dev? I tried it without APU, but the second engine didn’t come alive. I had to switch on the APU.
well, I think your APU and APU bleed needs to stay on the whole time until both your engine is running.
Ok, Good to know. I guess in a real life Airbus you don’t need the APU necessarily for crossbleed engine start. But not quite sure at all.
I dunno either… I don’t feel comfortable taxiing with one engine… feels imbalanced somewhow… I know it’s for saving fuel and all in real life, but we’re in a sim, fuel is unlimited and free.
That’s a good idea… will try that and see if it works. It’s now on a joystick button.
I’ve tried it by accident. The second engine (number 1) didn’t start and I didn’t check. Kept wondering why I wasn’t turning. So it’s indeed unbalanced. I could not get it to right turn with only the right engine running.
For all those interested watch this video… It is a real world Pilot and its very informative to this subject. If you start the video at 4 mins he answers the OP’s question however I recommend you watch the entire video. Just in case anybody is wondering it is X-Plane with the Toliss addon. I am sure it wont be long till the A32NX is as detailed.
Also this guy is a really good guy and I have learnt so much from him, I am not plugging him, I get nothing out of it, but I would recommend subscribing to his channel and liking his videos, just because this guy shares a lot of info like others do and we learn and it enhances our sim/ sim pilot experience! but up to you guys.
This wouldn’t make any sense and I doubt that the bleed air logic would allow this configuration at all.
You are doing crossbleed starts only if the APU is u/s.
It does save fuel, but you need to exchange the nosewheel tires much more often, so it is questionable from the cost POV if it saves money at all.