Word: airbus
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...Airbus A320 had been delivered to Air France only two days earlier, and the airline was proud to welcome 130 passengers aboard its new plane last week for a scenic demonstration flight. During the 45-minute ride, the sophisticated craft was supposed to buzz the tarmac at a French air show and swoop past 15,771-ft. Mont Blanc. The twin-jet aircraft, renowned as the world's most electronically advanced commercial airliner and celebrated as a symbol of Europe's technological prowess, was packed with local dignitaries, sightseers and journalists. Also aboard: a handful of aviation buffs who paid...
...world's first commercial airliner in which the pilots "fly by wire" -- controlling the engines and wing surfaces (rudder, flaps, ailerons) via computers and electronic commands rather than hydraulic or cable linkages. The fallen jet was only the sixth A320 to come off the assembly line at the Airbus Industrie consortium's plant in Toulouse. But the questions arising from the accident apply to the entire aircraft industry, for the planes of the future will be increasingly controlled by computer software instead of human reflexes and judgment...
...trend. Orders streamed in while the plane was still on the drawing boards, and 21 customers have signed to buy 319 of the high-tech jets at roughly $35 million apiece and have taken out options for an additional 203, making it the fastest-selling airliner in aviation history. Airbus, funded by the governments of France, Britain, West Germany and Spain, desperately needs those sales because its market share and profitability have been eroded by the U.S. dollar's decline. None of the A320's buyers canceled orders last week, but all will be eager for reassurance that the plane...
...plane or its use." He did not fix the blame on pilot error, but other officials alleged that Pilot Michel Asseline, 44, had been flying much too low, at only about 30 ft., far below the minimum safe level of 100 ft. This was less than totally comforting for Airbus and Air France, however, because the veteran Asseline is the airline's chief flight instructor on the new plane...
...could be a handicap in emergency situations that require sudden maneuvers, like those necessary to avoid a collision. Says John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association: "A computer can only react to the possibilities that have been programmed into it." Some experts speculate that because the Airbus jet's wheels were down as it swooped over the air show, the computers might have been tricked into thinking the plane was landing. Airbus officials discount this possibility...