Have had a manic weekend, and now see at this late hour (in UK) that this interesting discussion has been continuing apace. Will have to catch up tomorrow, but can try to answer a few questions from
CONFI ture:
Quite ironic after the following statement pronounced by B.Ziegler himself: “le 320, même ma concierge pourrait le piloter” (not sure how to translate it)
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Surprised that a bilingual/multilingual Francophone would baulk at translation! "Even my doorman could fly it," will do. We overpaid pilots felt it was a bit of a "put down", but he probably didn't mean it that way.
I believe Mr Ziegler has been somehow too prominent in the FBW Airbus conception and took some “radical and irrevocable decisions on A320 design” without properly consulting.
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If my quoted remark is justified (and I think it is), you should remember the history of many aircraft projects, some of them British, in the post-war years. Sometimes you have to have one very strong, even - bloody-minded - person, who will take a project by the scruff of its neck and push it along. That means it will have his/her stamp all over it; "warts and all". So lesser mortals have to hope the "warts" are not serious.
Regarding Thrust Levers, I’ve heard they were not supposed to have any, just Push Buttons for different settings, and therefore no possibility for Manual Thrust … but it could be just part of the myth, maybe you know more ?
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Yes, had almost forgotten that one. Either it was just a bargaining gambit by BZ, or perhaps we pilots were not entirely ignored. I only mentioned the design changes sought by the pilots' unions, but it goes without saying that the 3 launch-customer airlines (AF, BCAL and Air Inter) were in constant discussion with Airbus. In BCAL's case, the management-pilot input was led by George H, A320 Project and Development Pilot. We ended up with a beautiful manual throttle, which I used on 95% of my manual landings; including limiting crosswinds.
OFF-TOPIC
The one A320 painted with a complete BCAL colour sceme had it on the L/H side only, if memory serves. The R/H side, I think, was in Air France livery (or Air Inter). Can't remember if that one was used for my base training at Blagnac in March 1988. BCAL's AOC was effectively transferred to BA on 1/4/88, which was the day our first A320 (as G-BUSB, a dash-100, with no winglets) was delivered to Gatwick - in BA colours. We operated them out of the newly-opened North Terminal on a mixture of day schedules and night charters for the first 6 months. In October/November, the expanding fleet moved to Heathrow. In due course, we received the total BCAL order of 5 "100"s and 5 "200"s, ending with G-BUSK.
In 1988, we were a very happy and dedicated small team of ex-BCAL pilots, and we all loved the little aeroplane from Day1. Our success eventually persuaded some "real" BA pilots and ground engineers to join us, the former led by Colin W, who became our first proper BA management pilot at the time we moved to Heathrow, and a great ambassador for A320 in Boeing Airways [er, sorry - BA].
We continued to fly a successful operation for many years, hoping BA would buy A340s and/or A330s. Instead, we ordered B767-300s...
It was many years before BA ordered Airbuses for the first time, and then they were IAE-A319/321/320. 20 years after we started, as everyone knows, their narrow-body Airbus fleet is enormous. But no wide-bodies, yet...