Airbus el. power switching

[danflyer]

Does anyone know why the A320/A321 (most probably other Airbus aircraft as well) are not equipped with a so-called "No Break Power Transfer"?
Recently I had the opportunity to take a jumpseat ride on the MD-11 and was impressed about the power transient on this aircraft! No diagonal line on the DU's, no sound like a short circuit, no faults on the ECAM. :)
I think that the Airbus kind of power switching reduces the operating life of the computers enormously.
Any ideas?

[tired]

The A340 DOES have a NBPT, don't know why the miniBus doesn't. The 340's doesn't always work though......had some interesting diagonal lines et al on shut down this morning as a matter of fact.

[TEMP0+TSRAGR]

I came from F100's to fly A320's - I was amazed that Airbus hadn't put one in ... the F100's were far more advanced in that and many other aspects.

The F100 automatically gives two autopilots on finals (Cat 3B), automatically gives TOGA on live engine with a failure, still has CAT3B with double FMS failure (Airbus is a raw hand flown a/c !), Airbus is CAT2 with no autothrust (F100 is CAT3A) ... etc etc

Airbus technology/philosphy is very strange in some areas - bult by computer boffins not pilots !

[F/O Junior]

A330 has them as well, but they only work on ground.

[jetboy]

Yes, both the A330 and A340 were the first Airbuses (Airbusi?) to have NBPT. And yes, it hasn't really worked that well since day one. First, they had a problem with the fact that the Electrical System didn't recognize the APU cooldown scenario. This necessitated the crew to turn the APU Bleed switch off manually, and start the chronograph. Two minutes later (outside the cooldown period), they could then shut down the APU. Everybody's happy. In fact, the APU runs for a furthur 15 seconds to allow for the NBPT to take place. I refer to this as the "two minute drill" and although it has no place on an automated aircraft, it remains a requirement to this day! Don't turn the bleed off first, and NBPT will be inhibited until the engineers perform a reset (pulling circuit breaker). You guys on the litle bus will have to live with the flicker/flash on startup.

[CaptSensible]

When switching from External Power to APU try leaving the fuel boost pumps off before operating the EXT PWR switch. Seems to create smoother transfers (less load on the relay?).

[philltowns]

This problem is still ongoing. The main effect is a spike during the shutdown of engine #1. ECMU's have been repeatedly changed, but the problem still persists. Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, how have you solved the problem?

Cheers

PT