Learning Tool: FBW with Your Controls
This article is an incomplete 1st draft, it contains evolving study notes that will evolve into a complete course.
About this Article
The purpose of article is to help MSFS 2020 flight simmers learn to fly together in the Fly By Wire A320 mod in a two pilot cockpit that approximates real world procedures: these procedures have been modified slightly to allow for efficient crew resource management (CRM) specifically within the simulated cockpit, and also to account for the constraints presented by (1) the FBW plane mod itself and (2) the Your Controls mod.
This article is in early development and will eventuially become a module in the Air Fafifi School of Aviation. The following module will add in VATSIM air traffic control, but this module will only mark where clearances are (in prepartion for more detailed learning of ATC in the next module).
This aricle is being written referencing:
- the Development version of FBW A32NX (68BF940)
- Your Controls v2.8.0
Please note: Microsoft has planned to integrate shared cockpit natively into the sim sometime in the 2024 version, but not on it's initial release. This may mean that Your Contols (and this article) becomes redundant.
What Apps/MSFS Addons you will need to install
You will need:
- The latest Development version of the FBW A320NX mod
- Your Controls - the shared cockpit mod for MSFS
- Discord gaming/community communications platform
Getting started in the Sim
You must set the following for the shared cockpit system to work:
- Disable GSX addon if you have it
- Establish communications with your co-pilot in Discord
- Compare Community folders: both pilots must have the exact same navdata, scenery and liveries
- Start MSFS & check that your hardware profile selections in Control Settings are correct for the FBW mod
- In Assistance Options / Failure & Damage:
Crash Damage ....... DISABLED
Aircraft Stress Damage ....... DISABLED
Engine Stress Damage ......... DISABLED
Icing Effect ................. ON
- In Assistance Options / Piloting::
ATC ......................... OFF
- In the World Map:
Multiplayer OFF (or else use different MSFS Servers if you want multiplayer on)
The Training Flight
We have chosen a simple airport and a basic route to make learning easier. This first training flight has an Air Time of 48 min and a Block Time of 01:16 which means that the Sim session should be about 2 hours.
It is recommended to fly this route for a few sessions with players keeping the same role before swapping roles and doing a few more (Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring).
YMAV/18 DCT ANG DCT LORN DCT POMP DCT LCR DCT APPLE DCT YMAV/18
This route has a straight out departure (no SID) looping south-west-north to the JAYBI5 arrival (STAR) and an ILS-Z approach to RNWY 18.
Landing
Here is a short & useful video tutorial to check out: