The tale of the In-Flight Emergency
The virtual civil aviation authorities will be in touch with Asobo. this virtual pilot has been cleared of fault and awarded himself a pat on the back and merit badges! lol
FBW-A32X NEO. I use flight planning software and check my fuel consumption versus estimated fuel consumption at multiple waypoints on the trip. It is usually accurate to within 200-300kg if I didn’t fly stupid.
Today Gatwick to Madrid, except half way through the flight I note the ‘slightly high’ fuel consumption had turned guzzling at over 110kg/m at one point. The MCDU told me EFOB -1.1 (and fluctuated wildly). If nothing changed I had 40 minutes fuel remaining and was 60 minutes from my destination.
I check the system status and note it seems the external temperature is much too high… the glitch in Asobo’s last update is the obvious reason. Kill the session, or is it an… unforseen inflight emergency? I go with the emergency.
Assuming more oxygen would reduce fuel burn, I drop to FL200 to reassess the situation and potentially start my descent at twice the distance, to reduce my consumption even more… just enough to make my destination on fumes. It seemd like a good plan, and could find another airport if it was too close to empty
Madrid is 21c yet somehow it is +38c (ISA +44) at 20,000ft Going from 40kg/m to 110kg/m this was not helping - 16 minutes fuel remaining at this consumption rate. I need to get this bird down now!
I check the MCDU APT button… still not functioning. I hit the APT option for the PFD and note a vaguely familiar ICAO code… I quickly look up the chart, note it had a long enough runway, even ILS equipped, and it’s just at the edge of my descent range if I start descending now.
I check for terrain, turn on the radar, start a descent to 8000 while I bury my head in the MCDU… changing the destination for the first time mid flight, setting up the approach etc. I changed the destination, but not the whole plan, so it was a mess… and I had little time, but I saw the approach route, so used the heading bug to line up… checking for terrain, and use the APPR mode to capture the ILS. Once lined, up, had a nice approach for a perfect landing… with UNDER 1000kg fuel remaining. All passengers safe!
A fun exercise putting what I have learned so far to the test. Got the whole thing rercorded with my boring commentary if anyone’s interested, but I note even short vids get very few views from here.
this is at FL200 - note 119kg/m. I am now angry with myself… looking now, N2 is 106%, and probably had been for awhile… that should have tipped me off. grrr
Nice addition of the new reflections FBW!