To everyone flying on Xbox, what’s the best way you guys get the A320 to cruise ALT? I set mine for FL380 on a flight from KPHL to KTPA but the A320 just seems a bit underpowered. Takes me forever to get to FL380 and takes me another 20 min just to get to mach .79.
Thanks
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FL380 is just about over max spec for an A320, doesn’t stop atc trying to get you to go there though. I’ve had them put me up to FL400, beyond op spec. Any sluggishness in climbing in managed mode I find can often be helped by going into selected mode for the target altitude and specifying a v/s of +1500 or something like it. Also check your baro is set to std above FL180.
I personally dont use managed mode, I reduce the target airspeed to 280kts and then set a manual rate of climb above 18000ft to manage the climb at a lower vs value say 1600fpm to 30000ft then 1000fpm to 38000, doing this outside of managed mode seems to work for me.
service ceiling is 410
You fail to mention a lot of important details most importantly your take off weight. You will need to balance your climb rate, thrust, and the air density on your climb up. You can’t just plug in FL380 and VS of 1400 and expect to get there. Also that is getting high for the A320. I find if I’m heavy is to do a stepped climb. Go up to FL110 and get some speed, then up to FL210, and then up to FS310 (or whatever). On the last one-two steps (depending on weight) you’ll need to manage your climb rate (lower) to keep your speed up.
Here is a good example from a RL flight. Note the change in VS to keep the speed up and not waste momentum and fuel.
@Ibanezplayer200 Confirmed, the default A320 is noticeable underpowered. There’s nothing you can do about it. If you are very heavy, FL310 to 330 is usually a good initial cruising level.
@Lotic1975, @FlippinFlow
The important part during climb is to switch from IAS to Mach at the crossover altitude, otherwise climb performance will decrease even more.
Climb e.g. at 280kts and as soon as the 280kts are matching M.73 switch to Mach and continue climbing at Mach.
What is the reason to switch to mach? Sorry relative noob myself and I’ve never understood this bit.
Well Wikipedia says 39,100–39,800, and in MSFS it’s 39,800 too. Are you maybe referring to other airbus variants? eg. I think i’ve seen one ref to A319Neo and A321Neo as having FL410 as max ceiling.
If you climb with IAS, TAS/Mach will rapidly increase and you can’t have both, a high forward speed and a high vertical speed at the same time.
Performance (energy) stays roughly the same when climbing with Mach.
M0.73 @ FL290 = 432ktas
M0.73 @ FL390 = 419ktas
Another reason is the limiting Mach number.
If you would climb with (at low altitude pretty slow) 280kias all the way to FL390, you would be cruising at 511ktas or Mach 0.89, but the Mach limit for the A320 is only M0.82.
Increasing v/s climb rate helps.
Thank you that is helpful and useful to know.
Only if you are climbing a few thousand feet.
Otherwise you end up with a way too low airspeed.
Thanks for the replies everyone! I’m aware it’s a balancing act to get up to anything around FL350 but it shouldn’t struggle that hard. The last few flights I intentionally flew heavy above 150k+ lbs and the weight was distributed as it should be across the aircraft but it just doesn’t climb as it should. If I disengage A/THR and push the throttles to max, it then feels like the plane climbs as it should in the CLB detent. At max power I was able to get to FL350 at around .75 mach climbing at 1000ft per minute.
To my knowledge changing the cost index or anything else in the FMC doesn’t change the way the aircraft climbs. I’ve tried changing numerous things in the FMC but nothing seems to affect the climb in managed mode. So it seems like for now my best bet is to climb normally until FL180 and then flick A/THR off and apply max power and climb as the plane should normally climb. It’s not how it should be done but it gives me a more realistic climb instead of climbing at 400ft per minute at FL300. 
This isn"t too unrealistic.
On all MSFS default aircraft N1 incorrectly doesn’t increase with altitude.
I’ve tried using max thrust as well a long time ago, but the ROC increased by only 100-200ft/min.
Btw. You don’t need to disengage AT manually.
AT is automatically turned off with the thrust levers above the climb detent.
As soon as you put them back into this detent, AT is active again.
This is not the case for me.
What I need to do is turn off A/THR click into TO/GA at that time the A/THR will turn on again which at that point I need to turn it off again to actually have max power. It’s about a 12% difference in N1 which puts me at almost 100% N1 during my climb which gives me the power I need to make a somewhat realistic climb.
That’s very strange.
What does the thrust mode on the FMA indicate when you are placing the thrust levers into the MCT or TOGA detent without deactivating AT first?
It shows what detent the levers are in with the same thrust percentage. Just as if autothrottle was on.
Yep that or step your way up and or reduce angle of climb with VS. I tend to just ease off on my climb rate and end up roughly at FL340 at roughly 280 max. If you don’t watch it though you will lose all your speed.
Yes I on Xbox series s
