After Landing and Taxi to Gate

This guide will explain the correct procedures after we have landed and vacated the runway, and will also cover taxiing to the designated gate.

Disclaimer

The level of detail in this guide is meant to get a Airbus A380 beginner from the runway to the designated destination gate.

A beginner is defined as someone familiar with flying a GA aircraft or different types of airliners. Aviation terminology and know-how is a requirement to fly any airliner, even in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Chapters / Phases

This guide will cover these phases:

After Landing
Taxi to Gate

1. After Landing

Situation

Aircraft has vacated the runways completely and has come to a stop on the taxi way as per previous chapters.
Flaps and Ground Spoilers are still deployed.
ATC has been informed that we vacated the runway.

Simulation vs. Real Life

In real life, the A380 will have two pilots who can actually do things in parallel. Talking to ATC, taxiing the aircraft and doing the after landing tasks.

In the simulation we are typically alone, so it is perfectly fine to stop once we have fully vacated the runway and do these things one after the other.

ATC after landing

ATC Tower will usually hand us off to ATC Ground, and they will give us taxi instructions for our destination gate. Write them down and read them back as usual, but you don't have to move immediately unless ATC explicitly tells you to. Online ATC understand that the after-landing- tasks do take some time.

Immediate steps after vacating the runway

Set your radio frequency to the one assigned by ATC or the airport charts.

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Disarm the Speed Brake lever (Ground Spoilers) by pushing down on the lever.

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What and why

After landing, we need to prepare the aircraft to taxi to our assigned gate. To do this, we need to follow a few steps and disable some systems that we will not need any longer since we are safely on the ground.

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GROUND SPOILERS ................................................... DISARM
ENGINE START SELECTOR ......................................... CHECK NORM
FLAPS ............................................................ RETRACT
TCAS ............................................................. STANDBY
WEATHER RADAR ........................................................ OFF
PREDICTIVE WINDSHEAR SYSTEM .......................................... OFF

Why start the APU

Once we are safely off the runway and on to our assigned taxiway, we need to start the APU. We are doing this to ensure the aircraft will still have electrical power and air conditioning and circulation once we complete our navigation to our assigned gate. Upon reaching the gate, our engines will need to be shut down, and we are still going to need power for a little bit while we focus on shutting the airplane down.

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AUXILLIARY POWER UNIT START ........................................... ON
ANTI-ICE ..................................................... AS REQUIRED

Exterior lights for taxi

Once we begin our taxi to the gate, we have to check our lights. We are doing this so we are A. Not a distraction to other pilots, and B. Not blinding the ground crews.

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LANDING LIGHTS ....................................................... OFF
STROBE .............................................................. AUTO
OTHER EXTERIOR LIGHTS ........................................ AS REQUIRED
NOSE ................................................................ TAXI
RUNWAY TURN OFF LIGHTS ....................................... AS REQUIRED

Hot brakes

If you get a warning on your ECAM saying "brake temperature high",

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we're going to want to cool those brakes down. Press the switch labeled BRAKE FAN to help the brakes cool off. It is not uncommon for brakes to get very hot while decelerating after touchdown.

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BRAKE TEMPERATURE ................................................ MONITOR
BRAKE FAN .................................................... AS REQUIRED

This concludes After Landing

2. Taxi to Gate

Situation

Aircraft on taxiway directly after runway.
After Landing checklist is completed.
ATC Ground has given taxi instructions.

Taxiing

Make sure to also read the Taxi section of the Engine Start and Taxi chapter. Use your charts to follow the ATC taxi instructions to the designated gate.

Crossing a Runway

When approved to cross a runway (active or not) perform the following actions: - Look out the windows and visually ensure that there are no visible aircraft to your left and right. - Turn on extra lights to ensure your aircraft is visible when crossing: - Strobe lights - Set to ON - Inform ATC you have vacated the runway if required.

Warning

NEVER cross a runway without express permission from ATC and providing a read back of said instructions. Always ensure maximum safety when crossing.

ATC CLEARANCE ..................................................... OBTAIN
STROBE LIGHTS ......................................................... ON

After crossing the runway

After you have crossed the runway and are on the adjacent taxiway, turn the strobe lights back off, and notify ATC you are clear of that runway.

STROBE LIGHTS ........................................................ OFF

Turning into the Gate

When turning into the gate, turn off your NOSE light and your RWY TURN OFF lights to not blind the ground personnel. This of course is only done if enough lighting is available to safely navigate and park into the gate.

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NOSE LIGHTS .......................................................... OFF
RWY TURN OFF LIGHTS .................................................. OFF

This concludes Taxi to Gate

Continue with Powering Down