I need help with landing the Airbus 320

This has nothing to do with hand flying.
If you stay exactly on the glideslope you are descending at a 3° angle.

Unless you see the PAPI lights in the distance, how do you know that you are on a -3deg glideslope??
There is a vertical profile graph display in the A350 cockpit to tell you that information, but NOT in the A320.

That’s why I mentioned in my initial reply that it’s helpful to use the ILS, especially for newbies.
If you don’t see the PAPI and there’s no ILS GS, you simply use the standard calculations.

Distance x 3 = Altitude
Ground speed x 5 = Rate of descent

Again I’ve mentioned the AoA only to find out how to establish the correct approach speed.
You can e.g. fly level in landing configuration at Vapp and check the AoA if you are unsure if the calculated speed is correct.

Once the correct speed is confirmed you should use speed for the approach, not AoA.

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Don‘t overthink the pitch, AOA and GS. When you approach with a 20 knots headwind your ground speed is slower and the geometry doesn‘t match anymore. You‘ll fly with a smaller rate of descent on the 3deg glide slope but the same airspeed… in consequence you‘ll have a higher pitch. Fly the speed, hold it, match your attitude to the glide slope and don‘t start to chase something that results automatically. And don‘t try to fly the speed of a 70 tons aircraft with pitch, use your engines. Happy landings.

A 20kts headwind component reduces the ROD by ~15% at 150kts…which means an increased pitch attitude of ~0.2°. I’d say that’s within the ~ +2° pitch attitude ballpark😉

Lol yep, but not 2 deg anymore :stuck_out_tongue:

I know what you mean, I‘m with you here. The 2 degrees nose up result in the correct config and speed. But you can‘t read 2 degrees or 2,15 degrees from the artificial horizon and they don‘t bother you at all when you‘re flying. What bothers you is that you don‘t end up below the glide path when you have a headwind and would stick to a say 700fpm ROD for that 3deg GS. Altitude and speed are the most vital values in aviation and close to the ground they become even more important. The nose pitch is just something that results from the construction of the plane. Land an A320 at config 3 and your nose is high up.

No one has mentioned rudder but if yours is a non twist joystick and you have no rudder pedals you have an uphill task of keeping lined up. Of course it can be done without but that takes serious practice and the wrong wind at the wrong time means you’ll end up flattening houses.

Only 2° higher, but compared to the full flap 2° that’s a lot.

Line up isn’t the problem (since you don’t use the rudder for turning) and any airliner can land with the full crab angle at moderate crosswind.
It’s after touchdown where things get interesting in that case.

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Could I also find the correct V_App speed by flying in landing config, with exactly +5deg of pitch (using the Attitude Indicator), and then by trial and error (using the throttles) find the speed where the aircraft neither climbs nor descends? (this gives an AoA of exactly 5 deg)

That’s correct.

I’ve corrected my post – meant a +5deg pitch, not zero.

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Great, thanks. That’s useful because I could get the Vapp without even knowing the plane’s landing weight!

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He did say he’s a newbie but ok I should have said staying aligned below a certain height is hard without rudders :smiley: And as for the rollout :dizzy_face:

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That’s exactly the point :+1: :slight_smile:

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