1.The Airbus A320 is the worlds most popular aircraft, records show
that between 2005 to 2007 it was the worlds biggest selling aircraft.
- It’s a very lightweight and low noise aircraft and it has a nearly 50{7cedf93ad3a6af36e2614cb55d7fd684605751b85e0d7870c13c844643491edc} lower noise footprint
- It has the lowest emission in comparison to other aircraft. Therefore regarded as being very environmentally friendly and will save up to 15{7cedf93ad3a6af36e2614cb55d7fd684605751b85e0d7870c13c844643491edc} on fuel.
- This efficiency has meant this aircraft is very popular with low cost carriers such as easy jet. This airline purchased 737 of both the A319s and A320s to join their fleet.
- The A320 has also raised the standard of its other competitors and is regarded as the most comfortable short to medium commercial passenger aircraft.
- The A320 can seat 150 passengers, 180 travellers is the maximum
- The Airbus offers extra wide seats which makes it far more comfortable for the traveller, a standard seat is 18 inches wide but the new seat is 20 inches
- Two different companies make the engines which are the International Aero Engines (IAE) and the CFM International
- The Airbus only is called a narrow body plane which means it only has two rows of seats.
- The A320 is part of an Airbus family these consist of the A318, A319, A320 and the A321. Expanding the Airbus family started in 1989 with the A321, then A319 in 1993, and finally the A318 in 1999.
- The first Airbus A320 was launched in March 1984, it completed its first flight in February 1987 and in 1988 was the first time an A320 was delivered.
- The A320 was revolutionary in its time as it was the first commercial airliner to use a full digital fly-by-wire flight control system. This was a very novel system and a very new experience for most pilots.
- Another fact that has made it different from other airliners was its full glass cockpit, other airliners used hybrid versions. It was also the very first airliner to use side stick controls, which is basically a joystick which flies the plane.
- Since their first delivery in 1988 Airbus has sold 7,481 A320 series aircraft with a further 5,580 that are on order.
At Flight Simulators Midlands you can experience being a pilot flying a real A320 Airbus. It is a real aircraft which has been engineered into a simulator. It was decommissioned from service 3 years ago and mounted on a pitch motion platform. The 320 simulator has professional displays that makes your experience so realistic and has enough room for 3 observers, so bring along your friends and take them on an exciting journey to your chosen destination and be able to say ‘this is your Captain Speaking’.