An annoying oversight of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is that there is not an easy way to train just the approach and landing phases with large passenger aircraft like A320. The usual advice on the internet is to pick a short route and do it in full, but having to do a cold start or just a shorter init routine starting on a runway gets really annoying and time consuming if you’re trying to solve an approach or a landing issue.
The built in FCR record/replay tool would be perfect since in theory you could take over piloting at the exact moment you made the mistake but unfortunately it is useless, loading A320 in FCR puts it in a broken state with all alarms going off, making it unflyable.
A sequence that kind of works for me is the following:
1. Create a SimBrief plan.
2. Locate a waypoint near TOD and find it in Free Flight map using the search feature. Set it as departure.
3. Set the destination and start the flight.
4. MSFS will put your A320 in CRZ mode, probably at a way too high altitude for your F-PLN and at approximately correct heading. (not being able to choose the initial altitude in Free Flight is yet another annoying oversight..)
5. Set a slow manual descend and then start initializing the aircraft as if you would do it on the ground. Essentially, load SimBrief, calculate payload, init the FMS and F-PLN using standard procedures.
6. At this point, aircraft will still be totally confused and won’t start tracking the flight plan even if you are technically aligned with the path so you should instruct it to go DIRect to a nearby waypoint.
7. Managed altitude is unlikely to work, you’ll have to handle it manually until you capture the GS. You will also have to manually activate the approach phase in FMS.
While this is a bit chaotic, it seems to work well and tends to save me about 10 minutes per flight which I’d otherwise use for the take-off, climb and cruise on a short training route.
Cen