With the JAR A330 on sale, I could no longer resist. I have been reading the reviews over the past year or so, and yes, it has its problems. And no, it’s not as authentic as the Flight Factor A320 Ultimate, but I’ve always loved the look of the A330, and JAR’s A320 was OK…so why not?
I also dove in and bought JAR’s Ground Handling Deluxe, although interestingly, you don’t have to buy it to use with the A330 - you can use it all you want for free (you just can’t use it with another aircraft). Regardless, that was on sale as well…so I picked it up. It has some great features and functionality that maybe I’ll pen a real article on.
I didn’t bother reading any instructions (much) and have no idea how the Airbus FMC works. I’ve dabbled in the A320 a bit and know just enough to get the aircraft started, but probably not properly.
More of JAR’s Ground Handling equipment…
The A330 is a good looking airplane…
Muddling around with the FMC. I managed to get some legs in toward Las Vegas from Phoenix, but not properly. I also managed to get some V-speeds by putting in garbage in the cost index and other fields…but again, it was not correct.
The JAR pushback scheme is fantastic. Push a button down on the communications panel to call for the truck, then use a text menu to communicate the steps. You then control the tug with the green tug control menu…a really nice feature that allows you to maneuver your plane precisely where you want it.
Once I’m pushed back and disconnected I hit the little engine run knobs and nothing happens. Then I put the ignition switch to the proper position and they light off as expected…
A short taxi and I do an intersection takeoff at Phoenix because I have a ripple in one end of the runway due to some weird mesh issue…
Here we go…
Err…used all of the remaining runway…
Climbing out. I get a weird rudder waggle at low speeds. I don’t know what is causing this - I couldn’t find a yaw damper switch that was obvious to me…
I goof around with the flight director and autopilot controls and manage to find some semblance of getting them to work. At least as far as altitude, auto-throttle, and heading modes. I know there are managed modes and all kinds of stuff that I’ll have to figure out later…
I’m headed for Las Vegas…and then suddenly I see the lake that is where KMUD is. I had sort of forgotten about my little home-built airport, so we drop on in…
I have to do some S-turns out south of the field because I’m high and fast…
A wee bit fast but starting to trend toward something. I didn’t get a Vref set because I didn’t add a bunch of stuff in the FMC…
KMUD has a nice long runway…
And I made the taxiways wide enough for large aircraft…
KMUD is missing a lot of details though. I must not have some of the original libraries installed that I created it with. Anyway, it was a fun and short flight. I can tell I’ll enjoy this plane once I get used to all the inner workings and get the rudder waggle sorted…
