Dear Mr Airbus...
 

I have been operating the 320 series Bus for a number of years now. Like any airplane, it has pros and cons...

In order to contribute towards the next generation of 320s, here a couple of suggestions:

- sidesticks are fine, but gimme a mechanical link between the left and the right side (it works in the GA airplanes...)
- gimme a kind of DIRECT LAW from 1000' down, so I can fly the bird in turbulence, and not the other way round
- don't gimme a FLARE mode (other aircraft do fine without...)
- gimme a moving levers A/THR system
- gimme a A/THR system where I don't have to LVR CLB and "retard, retard" position the levers
- gimme an FMGS that won't throw me out of DES or CLB mode when leaving NAV for HDG
- gimme an FMGS that will automatically take the 2nd AP online when APP is activated
- gimme an EFIS Control Panel permitting simultaneous selections, like CSTR and WPT together
- gimme complete glass checklists, no more of this after ECAM Actions QRH or EFB work
- gimme left and right independent tilt on the WX radar, permitting better analysis by using L and R ND displays
- gimme a braking system using 2 hydraulic systems when applying pressure, redundancy at hand (normal and alternate provide no advantage)
- do not gimme the ashtrays... there are (hopefully) no pilots smoking on the FDK these days
- gimme a well positioned hook for the handmike, no more bending in the dark
- gimmie a handmike that doesn't weight and look like a truncheon
- gimme FIRE lights that are integrated into the MASTER switches
- gimme some real reading lights permitting a brief in a normal seating position
- gimme...

Well, your turn gals & guys ;)



live 2 fly 2 live

How do you spell "neanderthal"?

BTW, F4F: if you have not flown the mighty Phantom, I suggest you reconsider your username. If you have: best wishes.

F

You spelled it correctly. Why do you want to know...going to apply for a larger brain? :8

Gimmegimme
 

You're right about the reading light and the simultaneous cnstr/nav/wpt/apt selection!

How about a mcdu that scrolled in the logical direction using the up/down arrows? :}

SAN

Edit: ...just remembered the WORST thing about the bus: You need to wear thick wool socks not to get cold feet in the winter :(

dear F4F,


..........gimme a break!

C'mon guys and gals, dont take the bite, this fellow is a troll. He's aking for indepent tilt on LH and and RH wx displays and therefore shows such a lack of understanding of how the WXradar works that he for sure can't be a CPL, let alone ATPL.

And now for the benefit of the fellow planespotters and similar enthusiasts:

Not me, it seems that your thrifty employer failed to tick foot warmers box in Airbus order form. Those babies can fry your feet, if left on for too long.

It might have something to do with the fact that I'm 6' 1'' and so long armed that I can easily reach refuelling panel from the RH seat without even moving it backwards, but I don't have problems mike position (nor its size). Again, if someone has to do with the truncheonoidal mike, perhaps fault lies with the thrifty airplane owner.

I've seen the guys hitting the lateral sidestick stops in 9G14 crosswind and I used no more than half stick in 22G30. Now that just seems to confirm what I was taught at the sim: if you're hitting the stops, you're fighting yourself and not the wind.

Or spectacles, so you can read your charts when they're on traytable or window chartholder - I have no problems with lighting in those places.

Airbus MCDU is of the 1987 vintage. In 1987 I had ZX Spectrum that definitevely had no scroll keys. When screen would fill up with text, it would ask you "scroll?" Pressing N or break would leave you at this screen, pressing anything else would move you one screen further. The point is that there was no widespread standard in 1987 whether arrow down means screen down or text down. Airbus choose the opposite of what Bill Gates' slaves chose for their windows OS couple of years later.


And what do I wish for? Well - more captains that know they're flying the electric Airbus and don't try to fly it as if it were the beloved B732/MD81/Tu-134 of their youth.

what for? - I judge where the airplane is going, not how the other guy is working his joystick

what you are experiencing is called "Pilot induced oscillation", and can be overcome by letting go, have the airplane settle, and then fly the corrections with small inputs

I personally liked the thing flaring on autoland, anything else would have made the landing a bit hard... or are you refering to the transition from normal law to direct law on manual landing?

I learned on the airbus, and have never missed it, that maybe different coming from a different type

I think, setting climb power, and closing the throttles on landing are helpful when operating aircraft...

?

agree, but might cause mismatch errors when on CAT I and the signal gets distorted by taxiing aircraft...

you can, just press them simultaniously

Our QRH consisted of opt lvl graphs and the like, and a few very large print Smoke Checklists, to be able to read them if cockpit smoked up - your company might not have all the mods...

I have it now in the CRJ, and it doesn't help the tiniest bit

ok, fine

I smoke

see above post

the fire push buttons are huge, and lit, and the little fire lights are right in front of the master switch... I don't agree at all

there's at least 3 different lights - see above


I liked flying the A319,320,321,332,333,342,343,346...
but I grew up on them, so maybe that's what makes me not miss linked controls or moving throttles...

Nic

If you never have seen any other cockpit, how do you want to know what's best?

In fact, the Airbus cockpit still is state of the art, and I rather wish that some B-products would improve before any Airbus would. If you watch the A380 cockpit, you can safely assume that this is the way Mr. Airbus has gone.

I agree with F4F that there are some weak points, like the flight deck lighting or some of the FMGS's CDU logic. And I know that some people still don't get used to the FBW logic. Some of F4F's propositions are available today as an option. But the best of all about an Airbus cockpit is the space you have, the comfort.

As someone who has flown different kind of modern cockpits, I would like to see, all on the FMGS:

- copy into scratchpad
- prompts at the end of the line page to go directly to the next logical page.
- A useful PROG page
- scroll direction the other way around

And:
- Head-up Display
- A table for the Jump Seat!


Dani

Handing reading lights for the bus are available here....

http://www.airbusdriver.net/ click through the menu to Airbus Night Light

......you'll need to buy a few though, as you are guaranteed to forget it from time to time, making a lovely gift for the next crew.

Just don't get caught with this un-certified modification fitted!!:=

Clandestino wx radar.

MD 83 that I flew was rigged like this. left sweep was tilted for captain, right sweep was tilted for FO. Not a bad rig... once you figured it out. Less time spent tilting, more time avoiding wx. I can't recall wx radar model, but it sure did what F4F was suggesting.

Cheers.

A320
 

New Airbuses have auto scan radar, works great! I agree it needs better lighting, the folks in business class have better lighting. I would prefer A330 type shades for the wind screens too. I hate the annoying interphone call, 777 style much better. As far as the rest goes, I love it. :ok:

Looks more like a clip with a little mirror on it than an "uncertified modification" to me. Hardly as if he's tinkering with the rating of the engine now is it?

But just as illegal, lol. :=

1) Sort it out so in climb the aircraft doesn't porpoise around in a feeble attempt to maintain an airspeed while heavy and approaching cruise altitude. This would mean I don't need to pull V/s, select a sensible V/S and select speed higher to keep climb thrust to prevent us from bouncing between 0fpm to 1500fmp while the speed and pitch attitude goes up and down like a pro's knickers.

2)Now this would be luxury! Peltier element in the cup holder, with a three way switch - cool, off, hot. This would mean my coffee can stay warm for more than 30 seconds. Oooh and cold drinks in summer. Nice!

Obviously the 747-400 has never taken its ATPl exams. :8
Very useful feature imo.

Clandestino, seperate WX-radar controls are perfectly possible. Instead of sweeping twice, the capt gets a left-right sweep at his selected angle, the fo gets a right-left sweep etc.

Anyway, comfortwise the Airbus is leagues ahead of Boeing (320>737). However, the reading lights in the Airbus are a misdesign. In a 737 you can swivel and adapt these lights in anyway you like, wide beam, narrow beam, high intensity, low intensity, red light, white light.
The bus reading light has none of this...it only shines in one (almost useless) direction with the weakest intensity, weaker than a candle.

Also agree with the CSTR, ARPTS, WPT selection. Why can I not show both on my ND? Boeing does it.

Why not descend at top of descent automatically, like when cleared at pilots discretion to a lower level? Boeing does it.

And I will never understand the geometrical descent paths. Why on earth not descend at 1000 fpm until intercepting a proper descent path after passing an alt constraint which leaves you low on profile? Boeing does this marvelously (but does some real scary stuff if you do not descend at TD).



Once again. This is not intended as a Boeing vs. Airbus. Both have some wonderful and some awkward stuff.

I would like a MDA symbol on the Altitude scale of the PFD.
TP

Early airbuses allowed it. In fact you could have all 5 buttons on at the same time. := However I think it caused failures so they restricted to one button at a time.

To all those asking for seperate Wx radar tilt controls for each side, its more than possible, we have it on all our 320/21s. So its more to do with your company putting its hand in its pockets to get a better radar system fitted.