Boeing 737 vs A320

[inner]

Hello everybody

I'm looking for pilots who have flown with a320 and B737.

I want to know their opinions which aicraft they liked the most. What are the positive things of B737/A320 and what are the negatives things of a320/737?

So i want to hear a comparison of those 2 aicraft.

Gentlemen, share your experience with us.

grtz

[Tail-take-off]

The A320 is the nicer office in which to spend a long day but the 737 is more rewarding to manually fly IMHO.

If you are looking deeper than that you will need to be a bit more specific.

[fireflybob]

Have done 1,800 on A320 and about 5,000 on B737.

I much prefer the B737 (although the A320 is a fine machine!) as it seems to me to be more of a pilot's a/c to fly. Also I am able to maintain my basic flying skills more on the B737.

On the A320 there is very little indirect indication as to what's happening. The thrust levers are in a gate and they do not "move", neither does the sidestick whilst the A/P is engaged. You have to read the FMA to know what is happening - on the B737 you can rest your hands and feet on the controls and close your eyes and have some idea of where the thrust is and whether it is changing, like wise with the control column and feel of the trim state etc.

[Capt Chambo]

Tail-take off has it about right.....
Airbus nicer to operate, Boeing "probably" nicer to fly.

[inner]

What i always thought is that with a yoke like in the airbus, you can fly more precise than with a traditional yoke.

I've been told as well that a boeing aircraft is overpowered and airbus not.

Correct?

[Tail-take-off]

I've been told as well that a boeing aircraft is overpowered and airbus not.


Not really. They have very different characteristics. I don't know much about the NG series but the 737-3/4/500s had quite a thick wing which meant that they could take off from shorter field lengths with similar loads. However the climb gradient after take off acheived by the A320 is much better as is the go-around performance.

737 performance was always a black art (Airbus is a lot less complicated). Boeing used to use "improved climb" (overspeed) performance to get around some of their take off problems. Essentially you would increase the V speeds until you were field length limited which would generate better climb performance.

The 737 300 & 500 were quite WAT limited in terms of single engine go arounds from an auto land with a 50' DH. The airbus can do it at MLW in most conditions (sorry can't remember the exact figures but it's something like 35 degrees at sea level).

The 737 climbs to cruise altitude more rapidly but the A320 has a higher climb speed so will be 10 miles ahead by the time it gets there.

In summary both types are certified to the same performance standards and therefore have similar power margins.

[WaterMeths]

I have around 850 hrs on the Boeing and similar on the 'bus. Flying the bus now. On a slightly different vein to the actual performance of the two types, one thing I do like about the Airbus is the logical approach to making life easier during turnarounds. Pressurisation settings and bleed control is all automatic....thinking back to setting cruise altitude on the Boeing, and the pause and think before switching bleeds back on after a bleeds off T/O. Inputting data for take off in the FOVE is more user friendly, once you get used to that bl**dy touch screen on the laptop. Even simple things like automatic resetting of fuel counters ( I know )....... and no heading bug issues when in (L)NAV. Just a few extra things to throw into the pot.

Cheers

[lowbypass]

thanks firefly bob...good short explanation, i reasoned that way too