Plastic Fantastic!
Early morning departure from RW19 at Vilnius International airport!
Today we are going to talk a little bit about one of the most popular airplanes in the world. More than 10000 units were built to this day, and it is still in production! Yes, this is the Airbus A320 family! Let us start from the beginning. Airbus A320 is not the first attempt of European manufacturers to compete for Boeing monopoly, in the period from the 1950s till 1980s such Aircraft as Sud Aviation Caravelle and Hawker Siddeley Trident was developed, but let us say it was not a commercial success. It is worth mentioning Dassault Mercure - the epic fail of the European aviation industry. It was planned to be a direct competitor to the American-made Boeing 737. However, the Mercure had very little success on the market, which has been attributed to several factors, including a lack of range in comparison to rival aircraft, In the end, only 12 aircraft were built, and the aircraft went in the history.
Touchdown!
Then in the late 70s, Airbus decided to enter the market of narrow-body medium-range airliners and the development of a new "JET" (Joint European Transport) program. It is also worth mentioning that before that Airbus had some successful widebody, long haul projects like A300 and A310. But the new jet which later was named - Airbus A320 was completely different. Technologies such as fly-by-wire and "glass cockpit" which were previously only used in the military, were implemented for the first time in civil aviation. The prototype took flight in 1987, a year later it started commercial service with Air France. During the years A320 grew into a family of 4 aircraft - A321 Stretched version of basic A320, capable to carry 220 passengers in full economy configuration, as well as A319 - shrunk version of basic A320 and even shorter A318.
Airbus A320-214 of the Aeroflot - Russian Airlines!
It would be a lie to tell that Boeing was not shaken when A320 entered the market. During that time Boeing 737CL family only started to be produced, and the most common model in the skies was Boeing 737-200. If we compare the technological advance of the A320 with Boeings 737 classic and original series. Well, it was like color television in the 1960s. While Boeing had only indicational lights of some systems not working properly, Airbus at the same time had advanced Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitor (ECAM) which gives the flight crew information about all the systems of the aircraft. More of that in case of any failure, warning or caution messages are displayed, the computer prioritizes it, and in case of something really important it even provides checklists to the crew, so they instantly know what has to be done to isolate the fault. All this is possible due to many computers such Spoiler Elevator Computer, Flight Augmentation Computer, Elevator Aileron Computer, Flight Management, and Guidance Computer, and many others installed on the A320. At first sight, it could seem that all this technology is nice while it is still new, and may cause problems on aging aircraft, but believe us if maintained properly it can last for many years without any problems. Actually, for so many years, the airframe lifetime will end earlier.
Cockpit of the Airbus A320.
The flight deck of A320 back in the 1980s was also extremely futuristic, thanks to fly-by-wire technology, Airbus managed to abandon the usual control columns, instead, they have installed side sticks, that made a lot of place in the cockpit, which was used to install the foldable table in front of both pilots! This table can be used for paperwork, and let's be honest for comfortable eating while cruising ant FL360!
Airbus A320-233 of the GetJet Airlines!
Later the current engine option A320s were developed into A320 NEO (New Engine Option). The six-month head-start of the A320neo allowed Airbus to rack up 1,000 orders before Boeing announced the MAX. The A321 has outsold the 737-900 three to one, as the A321neo is again dominating the 737-9 MAX, to be joined by the 737-10 MAX. Also, Airbus was extremely lucky, cause Boeing Boeing 737MAX was grounded due to MCAS problems, which means some additional orders!
Wizzair preparing for departure!
The final word from Our team. The global A320 fleet had 99.7 percent operational reliability in the last 12 months and completed more than 152 million flights over 280 million block hours since its entry into service. This means that the aircraft is extremely reliable, but here at AviapixBaltics we are let's say conservative, so we prefer something that has a yoke and at least one Boeing title somewhere in the aircraft!
Best regards,
Your AviapixBaltics!