Airbus A320

[PR3D4TOR]

He prenged the kite into the proles.

[Zimme83]

Pretty amazing that it flew so well despite loosing pretty much all control surfaces on the wing including flaps. That is a lot of damage.

[Rich46yo]

Me'thinks these airplanes have become such techno-marvels the ones driving them have more and more lost the skill to....fly....them. So says a ex-Colonel in USAF who now flys for a civvie I spoke to recently. He worse birds in a F-16 squadron and he says less and less new civvie pilots every become good at actually "flying" since punching computers has gotten so easy.

[icepac]

But there have been some glaring cases of airline pilots not performing basic piloting skills.  One case was a 747 that lost an engine, pilot flying was using aileron to correct for yaw not the rudder.

From my own experience some of the airline pilots we had flying the B-17 and B-24 just flat sucked.  I'm sure they were great flying within the IFR system but VFR there was some distinct lack of stick and rudder skills and it wasn't all just from not being familiar with the airplane.  That being said there were a few of the airline pilots that were awesome such as the guy that once did a deadstick night, IMC, NDB approach in a DC-3.

This happens when all skills and knowledge are concentrated without a broad base of basic physics understanding.

The average new right seater can't change a tire on a car.

I've seen 3 instructors at comair standing around a dodge neon scratching thier heads for half an hour so I went outside and changed the tire in 4 minutes.

I'm sure you're seeing "bush pilots" showing up there who lack the skills that were part of the requirements of earning the title.

[Zimme83]

I will not go to hard on the pilots before i know more. Could have been a gust wind or something that cause the wing strike and after all they handle the emergency as good as u can demand. They put the plane down and no one was injured.

But yes - it is a concern that new airline pilots don't gather enough basic flying skills and fundamental understanding of what forces that affects the aircraft. It will be interesting to see how the business handles it. The computers have eliminate a lot of accidents caused by pilot errors but if it leads to pilots that do others and "simpler" errors I'm sure there will be some action from authorities

[Rich46yo]

A little background. First off the A320 is a marvel of technology and a huge success in sales. I see both them and the 737 more times then any other people haulers and I'd take an educated guess and say the 320 is the 2nd most produced airplane in history. 2nd only to the 737 which has, probably, a 20 year jump on it. It was the first ever fly by wire pass jet built into its original design. Even Boeing fanatics love the 320 ; It is just a wonder of design and I bet AB is still making more dough off it then any other airplane on its line.

A 200 passenger Jet with a 3,000 NM range. The market for this type of aircraft is the biggest in the aviation world. So big that both China and Japan are due to offer their own planes to compete with Boeing, AB, Embraer, Bombardier. Mitsubishi may say they only want to build a regional but their long term goal is a continental 200 seat jet.

There are thousands of 320's in service. Jets in that class are the work horses and the money makers so any issues with them have a ripple down effect on the industry their individual size may not reflect. The 777, A350, 787s, A380, and 747 Pilots of the future are wearing 3 stripes on the 737/320s of today.

[PR3D4TOR]

I'd take an educated guess and say the 320 is the 2nd most produced airplane in history. 2nd only to the 737 which has, probably, a 20 year jump on it.

If you only count civilian airliners then perhaps, but against light planes and military aircraft production numbers it's not even close. Most produced airplane of all time is the Cessna 172 with more than 40,000 built. Runner-ups are the Il-2 and Bf 109, both with more than 30,000 built.

[Rich46yo]

I should have said production passenger jets. Both are legends, the 737 and A320. Both are still being improved and built.

[Jabberwock]

Commercial fleet data is one of my jobs.

Orders/deliveries through to the end of March 2015:

A320:
Sales: 11,581
Deliveries: 6,494
In operation: 6,231
Unfilled orders: 5,087

737:
Sales: 12,715
Deliveries: 8,471
In operation: 6,114
Unfilled orders: 4,244

Both the single-aisles will be produced out past 2025 by Airbus and Boeing, maybe out to 2030 before their replacements are introduced. Upgraded versions are coming. A320neo is due to enter service this year, 737 MAX in 2017.

Production rates have gone up about 50% over the past four years, which is staggering. They're going to go much higher as well - Airbus is building an A320 plant in Mobile, Alabama, and Boeing is adding a new line at Renton for the 737 MAX.

Airbus is going from 42 to 50 A320s per month from 1Q 2017, and will have capacity to go to 56-58 in 2018.
Boeing is going from 42 to 52 per month by 2018, and will have capacity to get Renton to 63 per month.

So, by 2018, they're going to be pumping out about 1250 single-aisles a year.

Oh, and get ready to be more squeezed. Boeing is upping its 737 max seating from 189 to 200. Airbus is taking the A320 from 180 to 189, possibly 192. They're also developing a version of the A321neo to replace the 757, so you can look forward to 6+ hours in a narrowbody. 

[Tilt]

RAF flies Voyagers which are basically A320's with A340 wings. The  two engines on the inner nacelles. Outer nacelles used for ATAR.

Strangely the RAF also had a Voyager lose height fairly rapidly ( I think some 5000 ft ) over Turkey last year. Turns out a clip board was being pushed against a joystick....no one had noticed.

[PR3D4TOR]

A330 with 340 wings.

[Rich46yo]

They're also developing a version of the A321neo to replace the 757, so you can look forward to 6+ hours in a narrowbody.

Yeppers. Were entering the era of the sardine can with the sardines 250 lbs in flip flops and short shorts, with the cracks of their butts showing.

When I was a kid flying had class. The airlines had class. The passengers had class. Now its a bunch of smelly drunks flying Frontier and rioting when theres no plane available.

[SirNuke]

A330 with 340 wings.

yes because it would be weird looking plane otherwise 

[Rich46yo]

I had a good talk with a United Capt., ex USAF, who fly's A320s. He raves about them. The current and next gen models of A320 and 737 almost make every other airplane redundant. My God were talking 170 to 200 passenger 2 engines with ranges in the 4,000 to 5,000 NM class that are easy to fill Every Flight. There are far more orders then can ever be filled, AB has production centers all over the world and cant hope to keep up with demand.

"They" are the money makers.