Airbus A320

The Airbus A320 is a modern, highly-sophisticated single-aisle airliner featuring fly-by-wire technology. The A320 family of aircraft now includes the A319 & A321, which are shortened and stretched variants of the original A320 design.

The A320’s exceptional efficiency, modern ‘glass’ cockpit and spacious cabin make it extremely popular with airlines, pilots and passengers. There are now over three thousand A320 family aircraft flying all over the world. The A320 is even enjoying huge success in North America where most airlines used to buy only US-built airliners. The Airbus plants in Toulouse and Hamburg are between them now producing A319’s, A320’s and A321’s at a rate of about one a day.

The most obvious difference you’ll notice when you step into the flightdeck is the lack of a conventional control column. They’ve been replaced by ‘sidesticks’, as found in fighter jets and very similar to a PC joystick.

An airliner only needs very gentle control inputs so the joystick is ideal and it is easy to fly the aircraft from either seat irrespective of whether you are right or left-handed.