All of the following occurs quite rapidly.

Read through the procedure several ti

mes before attempting it in the plane so
you know what to expect.
Run through the Before Takeoff checklist and set flaps to 5 (press F7, or click
the flap lever on the panel).
With the aircraft aligned with the runway centerline, advance the throttles (pre
ss F3, or drag the throttle levers) to
approximately 40 percent N1. This allows the engines to spool up to a point wher
e uniform acceleration to takeoff
thrust will occur on both engines. The exact amount of initial setting is not as
important as setting symmetrical thrust.
As the engines stabilize (this occurs quickly), advance the thrust levers to tak
eoff thrust less than or equal to 93
percent N1. Final takeoff thrust should be set by the time the aircraft reaches
60 KIAS. Directional control is
maintained by use of the rudder pedals (twist the joystick, use the rudder pedal
s, or press 0 [left] or ENTER [right]
on the numeric keypad).
Below about 80 KIAS, the momentum developed by the moving aircraft is not suffic
ient to cause difficulty in stopping
the aircraft on the runway.
V1, approximately 150 KIAS, is decision speed. Above this speed, it may not be p
ossible to stop the aircraft on the
runway in case of a rejected takeoff (RTO).
At Vr, approximately 160 KIAS, smoothly pull the stick (or yoke) back to raise t
he nose to 10 degrees above the
horizon. Hold this pitch attitude and be careful not to over-rotate (doing so be
fore liftoff could cause a tail strike).
At V2, approximately 160 KIAS, the aircraft has reached its takeoff safety speed
. This is the minimum safe flying
speed if an engine fails. Hold this speed until you get a positive rate of climb
.
As soon as the aircraft is showing a positive rate of climb on liftoff (both ver
tical speed and altitude are increasing),
retract the landing gear (press G, or drag the landing gear lever).
At 1,000 ft (305 m), reduce flaps to 1 (press F6, or drag the flaps lever). Cont
inue accelerating to 200 KIAS, at which
point you may go to flaps up (press F6 again).
Climb
As you retract the flaps, set climb power of approximately 42 percent N1 (press
F2, use the throttle control on your
joystick, or drag the thrust levers). Maintain 6- or 7-degrees nose-up pitch att
itude to climb at 250 kts until reaching
10,000 feet (3,048 meters), and then maintain 280 KIAS to your cruising altitude
.
Cruise
Cruise altitude is normally determined by winds, weather, and other factors. You
might want to use these factors in
your flight planning if you have created weather systems along your route. Optim
um altitude is the altitude that gives
the best fuel economy for a given configuration and gross weight. A complete dis
cussion about choosing altitudes is
beyond the scope of this section.
When climbing or descending, take 10 percent of your rate of climb or descent an
d use that number as your target for
the transition. For example, if you're climbing at 1500 fpm, start the transitio
n 150 feet below the target altitude.
You'll find it's much easier to operate the Airbus A321 in climb, cruise, and de
scent if you use the autopilot. The
autopilot can hold the altitude, speed, heading, or navaid course you specify.

Normal cruise speed is Mach 0.80. You can set .80 in the autopilot speed hold wi
ndow (click the Mach button first)and
engage the Speed Hold button. Set the ATHR (click the switch to engage the autot
hrottles), and the autothrottles will
set power at the proper percent to maintain this cruise speed. The changeover fr
om indicated airspeed to Mach
number typically occurs as you climb to altitudes of 20,000 to 30,000 feet (6,00
0 to 9,000 meters).
Remember that your true airspeed is actually much higher in the thin, cold air.
You'll have to experiment with power
settings to find the setting that maintains the cruise