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Heller 56448 Starter Kit Airbus A-320 1:125 |
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| The Airbus A320 first took flight on 22nd February 1987, and entered commercial service as part of the Air France fleet on 18th April 1988. A profitable and competitive aircraft, on 31st March 2013, 6210 were ordered. 3,274 were delivered to some 310 clients throughout the world and 3,103 are currently in service. The product of a consortium of several European manufacturers (Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, MBB and CASA) created at the end of the 1960's, Airbus, now a 100% subsidiary of the industrial group EADS, set up production of the A320 according to modern organisational methods. Its production favours high-tech materials such as carbon fibre, Kevlar and fibreglass. Indeed, although it's constructed mainly using aluminium alloys, the A320 has a significant amount of composite materials not only in its wings, but also in the main structure of the aircraft. Until then, this was only ever seen on supersonic aircraft such as Concord and military aircraft. These innovations have made it possible to build a lighter structure, increase performance (finesse, manoeuvrability, consumption) and improve overall in safety and comfort for passengers.
The first civil aircraft equipped with a side-stick cockpit controller and a full glass cockpit, the A320 is the first airliner to use fly-by-wire technology linked to a calculator that actively manages stability. This concept is called CAG: Contrôle Actif Généralisé, in French (General Active Control). The A320 will be the first airliner piloted by two people, without a flight engineer managing and monitoring the systems. The most widespread version of the A320-200 is equipped with winglets and a greater fuel capacity offering it increased autonomy.
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