This week's movie monday takes us back to the late 80s aboard F-WWDC an -100 series A320 (MSN004) which later became F-GGEF in service with Air France. The video takes us on board this early A320, which first flew in June 1987, on what was then the world's first fly by wire jetliner. What makes the video unique is that the fly by wire envelop protection isn't being demonstrated in a simulator, but in actual flight pulling some pretty impressive maneuvers you don't usually see from the flight deck.
For a bit of a historical juxtaposition towards aircraft automation, Flight has a story this week detailing a possible feature on the A350 that could descend the airplane automatically in the event of a change in cabin pressure. The system would activate if sensors detected a change in pressure, but would provide the crew the chance to manually override if the pilots were to take over, or cancel the descent.
on August 17, 2009 11:53 PM | Reply
The version for the MTV generation is pretty good... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKBABNL-DDM
on August 18, 2009 4:55 AM | Reply
Wasn't the Concorde the first FBW jetliner?
on September 1, 2009 8:48 AM | Reply
Automatic descent, that Airbus is considering, is nothing new. Gulfstream has long had it in their jets. The G550 for e.g. has the Emergency Descent Mode which descends the airplane to 15,000 feet and 90 degrees off course, upon depressurization.
on October 22, 2009 1:26 AM | Reply
The Concorde was the first Analog FBW and the A320 was the first Digital FBW.