ManaAdaSystem:
Thanks for your comments. Since I have yet to fly an NG aircraft (not due to arrive until next year) only a -200 I am not really qualified to comment on specifics relating to the NG. I can only go on what material I have read so far.
You bring up an interesting point about aircraft diving towards the ground due to faults in the speed protection system. I do not want to turn this into a Boeing vs. Airbus mud slinging contest but I had an interesting experience while jumpseating on an A320 a few weeks ago. First the automatics completely missed capturing the LOC on the transition from the STAR, the intercept was less than 45 degrees. The captain had to manually turn the a/c to a reintercept heading from the other side of the LOC and then re-engage the automatics. Later on the same approach (now I have to get this right or all the Airbus types will be all over me) while changing from a selected airspeed mode (ATC instructions) to managed mode at about 1000ft AGL the a/c rapidly pitched to about 7 degrees nose down even though the managed speed was less than the speed being flown. Surely the a/c should have just pitched up a degree or two and/or thrust should have been reduced to bleed off the speed, it was only about 15 knots. It scared the life out of me and the crew flying. The captain quickly took control and landed but after landing he turned to me and appologised saying he had no idea why the a/c did what it did. Had this approach been in IMC it would have been doubly scary.
How do you tell and new Airbus pilot from an old Airbus pilot???
New Airbus pilot - "What is it doing now???"
Old Airbus pilot - "Look it is doing it again!!!"
On the speedbrake issue I was not aware that the brake would not automatically retract when you advance the thrust levers for a GPWS maneuver. Our SOP procedure for a GPWS warning in IMC includes retracting the speedbrake but I assumed (wrongly it seems) that it was just there as a double check to ensure it had retracted. Our SOP also states that when the speedbrake is deployed the PF who deployed it always has his/her hand on the lever so as not to forget that it is deployed. Thank you I will do a little more research on that one.
I cannot comment on the autoland functions for the reasons stated above.
The cockpit is definately NOISY I will give you that. The -200 is quite noisy and I imagine the NG with it's increased speed in cruise and the same window design would have more noise.
The B737 fits into my company's plan better than the equivilant Airbus product. We are a low fare, no frills airline and we didn't require all the bells and whistles that come with the standard cookie cut Airbus. We don't require hot galleys as we do not serve hot meals but they come as standard on the Airbus. With Boeing we are basically designing the cabin to suit our needs. When we were looking at fleet renewal Airbus was here bargaining hard against Boeing for our business. We were in the market for 70 aircraft, since increased to 94 so this was no small order. A few things I know that went against the Airbus were it's height off the ground necessitating loading belts at all destinations, the absence of a standard installed airstair and lack of delivery options (we are installing HUD in all the NGs)and slots (we couldn't get an aircraft until 2004)
Not sexy, whaddyamean????? It is cute and chubby
Cheers
Canuck