if I’m not wrong you have to descend 6400 feet in 9 NM. Thus it is 711 feet per NM. At 145 Knots you need a rate of descent of about 1725 fpm. This means a GSA of about 7°
I happened upon this airport without knowing about it being special. Needless to say my A320-200 departure loaded up with a simbrief flightplan was an unmitigated failure when I didn’t reach Vr by runway end, even with TOGA power.
I suspect the Fenix takeoff calculator is not accurate at this edge condition because it said the takeoff was possible with my scenario.
I’ve read through this very interesting thread and learnt plenty. One thing not previously covered though, all of the real life examples I’ve found were A319 not A320. Given the better climb profile and manoeuvrability of the A319 I suspect this is quite important.
Did you take off using Flaps 3 configuration? I usually take off from the very end of the runway, as far back as possible. then set parking brake, set the throttle to TOGA and wait until it spools up, and once it crosses over 50% thrust, disengage parking brake to launch the aircraft.
With Flaps 3 config, you should have a lower V1, Vr, V2 speeds so you should be able to take off easier.
And don’t load up the aircraft until MTOW…
I didn’t at the time, the EFB said the takeoff was possible and I’d not realised quite how tricky this airport was having done no research before starting the flight!
I did go back and managed to take off with flaps 2 (the EFB gave me a slightly lower Vr for F2 than F3 which I thought was a little odd), packs off, toga before releasing brakes, and a much lighter load. I tried to fly the RNAV Z approach in reverse because there are no STARs but I didn’t quite clear the terrain when crossing over to the valley on the left. I’ll go back another time with a more appropriate aeroplane for sure. And if we ever get a good A319 then I’ll give that a go as well.
I have a friend who flies to and from Paro regularly in MSFS. I think he logged around 500 hours or so with flights to and from Paro all the time, and he does it in the PMDG 737.
For him, he always takes manual control and always fly visually even though the approach is RNAV Z. He always “hugs” the terrain as low as possible so he can make the final turn at the right time and altitude for a single digit landing FPM. He’s an expert on both runway approaches.
Last time I fly on the FBW A32NX was also following the same method. Keeping AP to follow the RNAV path is more difficult because you’re doing too many things in the instruments to make sure you’re on the right altitude at the right time. Almost always whenever I try to use the AutoPilot and the MCU switches to follow the flight path always end up overshooting the runway.
So I follow his method instead, as soon as I enter the valley, disengage AP and keep hugging the terrain as low as possible and follow the valley, at the end do a final turn towards the runway and land the aircraft manually.
Suffice to say, I only want to do it once or twice and never do that airport ever again. Hahaha, but he always fly to Paro at least 3x a week.
Yes I was hand flying, just following the lateral navigation of the RNAV Z and doing the best climb rate I could manage.
One difference is that you are using the A320neo where I was in the Fenix A320ceo which does not have the same performance and is probably less suitable. It would probably work if empty but I don’t see the point in flying it like that.
These are the maximum takeoff weight charts from Airbus:
From the graphs you can easily see that for the 7000ft runway length and using the 8000ft density altitude curve, the MTOW for the ceo is 151,000lb and for the neo is 158,000lb. Taking this the other way, with the same payload the A320neo is off the runway a few hundred feet earlier which when there’s terrain to avoid at the end of the runway would make a big difference.
Those graphs from this very comprehensive and nerdy Airbus Maintenance and Planning manual, page 149:
Also note the lower landing speed of the neo from a few pages later:
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ON A/C A320-200. The final approach speed is 136 kt at a MLW of 66 000 kg (145 505 Ib)
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ON A/C A320neo. The final approach speed is 131.5 kt at a MLW of 67 400 kg (148 592 Ib)
IRL they were using the A319ceo but the smaller plane should have made the difference.
Yeah, that makes sense…
I feel like trying out Paro with the FBW A380 when it’s out…
Haha maybe if you attach a rocket on the back?
How did it go?
Ehh, I already moved on to FS24 and with inibuilds A350 coming up, I don’t feel like trying the A380 anymore.