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First commercial plane to offer a complete computerized "Flight By Wire" system, the A320 quickly became the biggest hit for the Airbus Industries European consortium.
Electronic flight management under all its aspects (Respect of flight envelope, fuel follow-up, handling of failures, engine control and so on . . .) greatly contributes to the high level of security and comfort the plane is offering.
Like on the bigger brothers A330 and A340, the 320 family doesn't have the classic control column of other airplanes of that size. "Manual" flying is now possible through a small side stick that transmits pilot inputs electrically to the different computers of the airplane.
The A320-100 made its maiden flight on the 22nd of February, 1987 and aircraft certification followed one year later. The final -200 version was finally certified in November 1988.
Studies on the smaller A318 type started in 1997. Maximum take-off weight was 61,500 kilos (or 135,585 lbs) and the maximum capacity, 117 passengers in all economy layout.
The A319 program started in 1993. It is in Hamburg, on the 25th of Augustus, 1995 that the first machine flew for the first time. Equipped with the same wing as the 320, the capacity of the 319 is nevertheless reduced to a maximum of 142 passengers, the fuselage being 3.73 meters (or 12 ft 2 in) shorter.
Like the 319, the A321 is assembled in Hamburg (While this work is done in Toulouse for the 320). It offers the highest capacities of the 320 family thanks to a lengthened fuselage (44.50 meters or 145 ft 11 in). First flight took place in March 1993. The wing area was slightly increased but the type rating for pilots remains the same for the whole family. To compensate the shorter range of the first 321-100, Airbus Industries came with an A321-200 in 1996 equipped with a central 2,900 litres (766 gal) fuel tank. This evolution also had more powerful engines (V2533-A5 or CFM56-5B3), strengthened landing gear and airframe.
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