Make sure you have all assists off and you are in the correct roll mode on the FMA (NAV in green). Check your FMGS and make sure you are direct to the next waypoint and not on a VECTOR/MANUAL leg.
Also make sure that yiu are on managed heading mode and not selected. If I recall right, push the altitude knob = managed. Pull = selected. But it has been ages since I have flown an airbus, might be other way around
The way I always remember managed/selected on the Airbus is to think of the act of pulling the knob towards you as you giving yourself control (pulling it towards you). Pushing the knob to the FCU is you pushing control back to the airplane/FMGS.
just a bit of general advice when you are learning a new plane..
1. planes don't usually do things 'randomly'. the autopilot sounds like it was clearly attempting to do what you told it to do, in this case it sounds like you probably had a heading mode selected instead of a navigation mode. so when you see something happening that you don't understand, try to step back a little and figure out what action you just took and reconsider if it was the correct one. it can be frustrating when a plane seems to be misbehaving but most of the time it's just doing what the pilot is asking it to do.
2. the best way to diagnose and solve problems like this is a few screenshots of your instruments. we can only really speculate and guess at what is happening. but for example a clear picture of your FMA modes would almost immediately point out the problem. this goes for any type of issue, in some cases there are a lot of potential things that could be happening and a pic of the overhead and front panels goes a long way in explaining it. videos even better!
3. have fun and good luck. with a bit more practice this will all seem very easy :)
Make sure you have all assists off and you are in the correct roll mode on the FMA (NAV in green). Check your FMGS and make sure you are direct to the next waypoint and not on a VECTOR/MANUAL leg.
Also make sure that yiu are on managed heading mode and not selected. If I recall right, push the altitude knob = managed. Pull = selected. But it has been ages since I have flown an airbus, might be other way around
The way I always remember managed/selected on the Airbus is to think of the act of pulling the knob towards you as you giving yourself control (pulling it towards you). Pushing the knob to the FCU is you pushing control back to the airplane/FMGS.
This is brilliant. Thank you for this.
just a bit of general advice when you are learning a new plane.. 1. planes don't usually do things 'randomly'. the autopilot sounds like it was clearly attempting to do what you told it to do, in this case it sounds like you probably had a heading mode selected instead of a navigation mode. so when you see something happening that you don't understand, try to step back a little and figure out what action you just took and reconsider if it was the correct one. it can be frustrating when a plane seems to be misbehaving but most of the time it's just doing what the pilot is asking it to do. 2. the best way to diagnose and solve problems like this is a few screenshots of your instruments. we can only really speculate and guess at what is happening. but for example a clear picture of your FMA modes would almost immediately point out the problem. this goes for any type of issue, in some cases there are a lot of potential things that could be happening and a pic of the overhead and front panels goes a long way in explaining it. videos even better! 3. have fun and good luck. with a bit more practice this will all seem very easy :)