Airbus Industrie A320...... ....... .....................................................................Specifications
The Airbus A320 was the first commercial airliner to fly with fly-by-wire controls and is also equipped with ultra modern computer systems. It found favour with many North American airlines. United had accumilated a large fleet of A320 and A319 aircraft by the year 2002. This aircraft, N449US was delivered to the airline new in 1998 and is shown as she appeared at Los Angeles International (LAX) on 24th of June 2005. Note the "Star Alliance" symbol just aft of the cockpit windows.
Perhaps the most important contributor to Airbus Industrie's success as an airliner manufacturer, the four member A320 family is a significant sales success and a technological trailblazer. The 150 seat A320 is the foundation and best selling member of the family.The A320 is perhaps best known as the first airliner to introduce a fly-by-wire flight control system - where control inputs from the pilot are transmitted to the flying surfaces by electronic signals rather than mechanical means. Apart from a small weight saving, the advantage of Airbus' fly-by-wire is that as it is computer controlled, an inbuilt flight envelope protection makes it virtually impossible to exceed certain flight parameters such as G limits and the aircraft's maximum and minimum operating speeds and angle of attack limits.Also integral to the A320 is the advanced electronic flightdeck, with six fully integrated EFIS colour displays and innovative sidestick controllers rather than conventional control columns. The A320 also employs a relatively high percentage of composite materials compared to earlier designs. Two engines are offered, the CFM56 and IAE V2500.The A320 program was launched in March 1982, first flight occurred on February 22 1987, while certification was awarded on February 26 1988. Launch customer Air France took delivery of its first A320 in March that year. The first V2500 engined A320 was delivered to Adria Airways in May 1989.The initial production version was the A320-100, which was built in only small numbers before being replaced by the definitive A320-200 (certificated in November 1988) with increased max takeoff weight, greater range and winglets. The stretched A321 and shortened A319 and A318 are described separately. All four share a common pilot type rating. Mid 2000 A320 family production was at a monthly rate of 22, to be increased to 30 units a month by the end of 2002.
Swissair aquired the A320 in 1995. First the series 100 and later the series 200 were ordered. HB-IJE, a series 200 was delivered new from Airbus on the 24th of November 1995 and is seen in the final version of Swissair livery, being applied to the fleet shortly befor the company's demise in 2002. She is seen as she appeared at Geneva on the 2nd of January 2002. Note the difference in engine cowling of the CFM56-5 engines of the Swissair machine compaed to the cowling of the United Airlines aircraft above with it's IAE V2500 engines. This aircraft still flies as HB-IJE with the successor airline to Swissair, Swiss.
This A320-214 was delivered to Alitalia on 26th April 2001 but flew for Eurofly to whom it was leased. This aircraft flew in Alitalia livery for the first time in 2003 after it's return. I-BIKD "Maschio Angioino Napoli" is seen as she appeared at Amsterdam's Schipol airport on August 6th 2005. Note the Skyteam emblem just behind the cockpit windows.
Armavia leased three A320s in 2003. This one, EK32008 a series 211, was delivered to Ansett Australia on 4th of April 1992. After the demise of Ansett in 2002 the aircraft went to the Wilmington Trust Company and was leased out to Armavia on the 31st of July 2003. She is shown here resplendent in the airlines then latest livery, as she appeared at Amsterdam Schipol on the 3rd of April 2005. Armavia went bankrupt in 2013 and this aircraft was leased out to Atlantis European Airways and has been in storage since the 29th of May 2014.
An interesting development is the two boggie main landing gear version of the A320-200. Developed to land on porrly or unprepaired runways, this variant was developed for Indian Airlines and to date this is the only operator. VT-EPH (cn 51) was delivered on the 8th September 1989 and operated along side the one boggie variant. Indian Airlines had replaced its entire Boeing 737 fleet with A320s by 2005. Note the Tamil titles on the port side which read "Indian Airlines". The aircraft appears here as seen at Sharajah International in the UAE on the 29th of November 2004. This aircraft now carries the Air India livery after the merger of Indian Airlines with Air India in 2007.