PFD - Primary Flight Display

This is the most important instrument. It is amazing, it displays so many information in a clear and compact way. As you will see, it displays all the necessary information for the flight, using several modes for the different steps of the flight. You can almost fly the whole flight with this single instrument.

Layout

| The PFD is composed of several parts: Top: the Flight Mode Anunciator (FMA) displays information about the flight management (autopilot, auto-throttle) Left: the airspeed indicator displays the airspeed in knots and Mach Right: the altitude part shows the altitude and the vertical speed Bottom centre: Heading indicator Bottom left: ILS id and distance Bottom right: Altimeter setting Center: Attitude indicator, including Flight Director and Localizer/Glide Slope All these parts are explained in details below.

Flight Mode Anunciator

This part of the PFD is composed of 5 columns. In each column, a word displayed in green indicates a selected mode, and a word displayed in light blue indicates a managed mode. See the FCU section for more details.

The first column contains information about speed management. When auto-thrust is not engaged, this column displays the current throttle status. If auto-thrust is engaged and speed is selected, SPEED is shown in green. If Mach speed is selected, MACH is shown in green. If speed mode is managed, SPEED appears in light blue.

The second column shows altitude management mode. If an altitude is selected, ALT is displayed in green. If altitude is managed, ALT is displayed in light blue.
If the glide slope mode is engaged for an ILS landing, G/S is displayed in green in this column.

Column 3 shows the navigation mode. If Heading is selected on the FCU, HDG is displayed in green.
If the wing leveler is engaged on the FCU, LVL is displayed in green.
If normal navigation mode is engaged, NAV appears in green. If automatic navigation is engaged to follow the flight plan programmed in the MCDU, NAV appears in light blue.
If LOC mode is engaged on the FCU to follow the localizer, LOC is displayed in green in this column.

The fourth column displays vertical information. When an ILS approach is engaged, the ILS category is displayed here. AS FS2002 does not manage this data, CAT 3 is always displayed.
Below 2000 feet AGL, the decision height (in feet) is shown on the 3rd line. The decision height is the height where you must decide if you land or if you go around. The decision height is also used by the autopilot to arm the autoland.

The fifth column displays the automatic modes engaged:

- AP1 for the main autopilot
- 1FD2 indicates the flight director is engaged
- A/THR for the autothrottle. A/THR is displayed in blue if the throttle lever is on the CL, FLX or TOGA position, to indicate that it is ready to be engaged. It is displayed in green when engaged.

Airspeed section

| This section is dedicated to the airspeed management. Several indications are displayed on the speed tape: The green circle indicates the ideal speed at which the aircraft should be flown, depending on its configuration. The triangle shows the selected or managed airspeed. It is colored in purple if the speed mode is not engaged, otherwise it is in light blue. If the triangle is not visible on the speed tape, the value of the selected airspeed in shown above the speed tape. The current airspeed in knots is designated by the yellow line. The yellow arrow shows the airspeed prediction, that is the airspeed the aircraft will have in 5 seconds if all conditions remain constant. Note: If you fly in a turbulence area, this arrow may jump up and down very quickly. This is a limitation of FS2002, I can do nothing against this. A little green line is shown to remind you of the speed limit of 250 kts IAS below 10000 feet An 'S' is shown to indicate the maximum speed for slat deployment. As shown here, the slats should not be deployed at a speed greater than 230 kts. An 'F' is also displayed to indicate the maximum speed for flaps operation. The Red ladder indicates the maximum airspeed. You should never fly faster than the maximum speed shown here, or you will have an overspeed warning, and a risk of damaging the aircraft. The Yellow ladder shows the minimum airspeed, at which you have a high risk of stall. The Yellow bar indicates the manoeuvre speed, which is the stall speed * 1.3. You should always fly faster than the maneuvre speed to avoid any risk of stall. Minimum, maximum and manoeuvre speeds are calculated depending on the aircraft configuration. To fly safely, you should always make sure that your airspeed is between manoeuvre speed and maximum speed, and also make sure that the predicted speed does not goes over these limits. Below the speed tape, the airspeed is indicated in Mach.

Altitude section

| The altitude indication works exactly the same way as the speed indication: The altitude tape shows the current altitude The autopilot target altitude is displayed above the speed tape or with a triangle moving on the altitude tape. It is purple if the altitude mode is not engaged or light blue if altitude is selected or managed. When you are close to the ground, the ground altitude is shown with 2 red bars. Obviously, you should never fly below this altitude limit, or it is a crash!! In addition, the vertical speed indicator is located on the right of the altitude tape. It shows the vertical speed (in thousands of feet per minute) both with a needle and a number showing roughly the number of thousands of feet per minute.

Heading section

| The heading tape shows several information: The current heading is shown by the yellow vertical line (center of the heading tape) The heading selected or managed on the FCU is shown by a triangle, drawn in purple if heading mode is not engaged on the FCU, and light blue if it is engaged The red cross shows the ILS course selected on the FCU The Track is shown by the green diamond. The track is the real direction the aircraft is flying. It is calculated with the current heading, corrected with the current wind speed and direction.

Attitude indicator

| The attitude indicator mainly shows the bank and pitch angles of the aircraft. In addition, this attitude indicator also integrates other indicators: On the top of the attitude indicator, a bank angle indicator shows the curent bank angle, and a bank angle limit: the white double bar shows a bank angle of 30° that should not be passed. If the bank angles is higher than this limit, the protection system of the aircraft will bring it back within the acceptable limits. Into the attitude indicator itself, the horizontal and vertical bars of the flight director are shown, if it has been engaged (see here for more details) On both sides of the attitude indicator, 2 green symbols show the maximum bank angle limit. The alpha-floor protection system will never let you pass these limits, unless you disconnect the ELAC computer which handles the alhpa-floor. If you do so, the 2 green symbols disapear to indicate there is no bank angle limit. On the botom part of the attitude indicator, the radio altitude is shown in yellow, only when the aircraft is close to the ground (below 2500 feet AGL). The attitude indicator also has a ground mode (specific to Airbus aircrafts), only visible when the aircraft is on the ground, where a white cross shows the current position of the stick within its moving limits.

ILS section

| The ILS information is composed of 3 parts: The ILS name and frequency, displayed below the speed tape, is shown only when an ILS signal is received The vertical scale, on the right of the attitude indicator, with a purple diamond which shows the glideslope deviation The horizontal scale, located below the attitude indicator, with a diamond showing the localizer deviation The ILS scales and diamonds are only shown when the LS (landing system) mode is activated on the glareshield panel. Click here for more details.

Altimeter setting

Below the altitude tape, an indicator displays the current altimeter setting. It the standard mode is activated, STD is shown here.

Continue to the ND page