First Flight of the A318
 

The first Airbus A318 prototype took of this morning (10.10 local) for it's first flight from Hamburg-Finkenwerder. Wasn't the Embraer 170 scheduled to fly before year's end as well?

I bet you´re going to fly one of these birds, fourstripes!

Really good news for the industry - this aircraft is going to be a big winner of the years to come.

Good to speak about some technical news for a change : it always surprised me the way the majority of airline pilots just read (as an example) the employment pages of FLIGHT, and never the rest of the magazine (98% of my personal statistics, from myself offering my magazine to the other crew member and watching the guy)

Sorry !

Our Airbus pilots claim that the A-319 thrust/weight ratio is better than with the A-320. Is the A-318 ratio as good as the -319, or even better?

The old Douglas jets that I fly, at least the two stretched versions (they also have short wings for the actual weights), barely takeoff or climb in hot weather. Many more very sweaty, long takeoffs for uns, im nachsten Sommer.

I dont think it will I/O . The v2500s/CFMs on the 319 can't be derated any more than they already have been, and for single engine controllabilty the 318 needs smaller engines. However it certainly won't be short of wing area - its the same wing as the 319 & 320, and 99% identical to the 321. Landing it in gusty conditions at light weights will be the fun bit if the 319 is anything to go by.

What engine is on the A318?
Last I heard P&W were having trouble with their design.

The A318 will, eventually, run on PW6000 and a ( I belive) a de-rated CFM56.

To answer I/O's question; Druk Air of Bhutan had an Airbus demo recently as they are looking to replace the 146s. Airbus took the A320 or A319 (memory failure again) there, even if it was bigger than required, since it had the best power-to-weight ration. The A318 did not offer sufficient power even if it was the right size aircraft. Once again referring to my fading memory, I belive Boeing declined to demo the 737NG in Bhutan. Druk Air was amongst the buyers of the now cancelled RJX.

A318 was originally supposed to have PW power only, probably as an incentive to PW to invest in the project. Allegedly Air France replied "I f@rt in your general direction" to this, requiring CFMs [partly SNECMA, remember], but since part of the A318 incentive is fleet commonality, it's not surprising that SOMEBODY insisted.

Here is <a href="http://www.multimania.com/airbus/1er_vol_de_l'A318.htm" target="_blank">one of the webpages, in french</a>, where you can see several photos from the first flight.
It also has a link, near the top, named "video", to a zip file which, when unzipped, contains a 1.3Mb, 15sec mpg video clip of the A318 taking off.
Also, here is <a href="http://tagesschau.de/styles/container/video/style_video_real_smil_cover/0,2162,490566,00.ram" target="_blank">a report on the A318</a> and its first flight from the ARD-actuel news bulletin (in German of course). It is a RealPlayer streaming video.

Why does Airbus feel that they need to reinvent the wheel with their aircraft designations? As one of their largest North American customers, we would have preferred they stay with convention and refer to the airplanes as such:
A320-10 (A318)
A320-30 (A319)
A320-50 (A320)
A320-80 (A321)

Of course, the early system of A320-100 and A320-200 would have been acceptable also.

- redtail, wrencher and box slammer of A320-151's and occasional driver of short buses.

When you look at it you can't help thinking there's something not quite right.

Don't you have the tiniest suspicion that this is Airbus saying to Embraer "You can play with your toys but at 100 seats you're on our manor. Come here and you'll get hurt. Maybe we'll lose a bit of money but we can afford it."

Oh I do hope so! Roll on that Scope clause! <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Here is a picture said to be on 11 Jan at Hamburg!

<a href="http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/open.file?id=214480" target="_blank">A318</a>

Guys you want nice photos of the A318? Check out <a href="http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/search/photo.search?id=214480,214479" target="_blank">http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/search/photo.search?id=214480,214479</a> as they are getting published. I tell ya, that plane is small!

Obviously I was wrong. This isn't a spoiler sideshow. Look at the order book. The engine options are probably no longer valid. I think you need to choose CFM56 if you want something that works:. . <ul type="square">[*]AIR CHINA PW 6124 8 . .[*]AIR FRANCE CFMI CFM56-5B/-5A 15 . .[*]AMERICA WEST IAE V2500-A1 15 . .[*]BRITISH AIRWAYS IAE V2522-A5 12 . .[*]CIT GROUP CFMI CFM56 4 . .[*]EGYPT AIR PW PW6122 5 . .[*]FRONTIER AIRLINES PW 6124 5 . .[*]GATX/FLIGHTLEASE TBD 12 . .[*]GECAS CFMI CFM56-5 30 . .[*]INTL LEASE FINANCE PW 6000 30 . .
[/list]
Quite a lot!. .(SpeedNews May 2001)

CIT Group (now TYCO) did not specify the CFM56 engine. BA ordered the PW6000; the V2500 is not offered on the A318. The GATX/Flightlease order has been cancelled. ILFC has cancelled 2 and converted 8 to other A320 family aircraft. The A318/PW6000 was supposed to enter into service within a year. Now, Air France will be first to receive the A318 with the CFM56 engine probably by the middle of next year.

CO are you sure about ILFC's cancelled twos? Heard they just switched ten to bigger 32Xs.

KK:

You can find the information from <a href="http://surf.to/orders" target="_blank">orders on the web &lt;http://surf.to/orders&gt;</a> which is usually pretty accurate, especially on Airbus information. I believe I have also heard the same thing from another source.

When did BA order 12 A318s...is this part of the order for 50 A319s a couple of years ago?Where are the 50 narrowbody aircraft to be based and who is going to fly them?What is the sticker price of the A318 vs EMB 170.I understand A320s are around $50m and EMB 145s around$20M. <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="confused.gif" border="0">