Are Airbus aircraft safe?

A320 Airbus

 

Are Airbus aircraft safe? Today a Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed into the French Alps, while it is not known what caused it to crash there have been problems with Airbus aircraft in the past. There have been nine previous crashes involving this aircraft design.

While nothing is known about why the Germanwings Airbus crashed, it is known that it descended for some reason and ran into the French Alps. Could this been a result of the computer system(s) malfunctioning? This aircraft uses fly-by-wire to control the control surfaces rather than uses a mechanical system.

Fly-by-wire has become the way to control aircraft flight surfaces today. When the Airbus A320 was designed over 28 years ago this was not true. While a number of newer passenger aircraft do use fly-by-wire the newer systems are much better designed than that of this old Airbus design. It is slow and has had many problems in the past.

For example the Air France crash at an air show in June 1988 when the airplane stalled due to the pilots finding out that they were at 30 feet instead of 100 feet above the ground and trying to gain altitude rapidly to miss some trees. The aircraft clipped the tops of the trees and crashed. It was determined that the airplane’s computer system overrode the pilots command to make the aircraft climb. They had commanded the elevator to make the plane go up and the computer’s protection system kicked in and overrode their commands.

If I remember correctly I have heard that the A320 does not respond as fast as a mechanical flight control system. Or is it the safety overrides done by the computer system that are there to prevent a crash? Could either of these factors contributed to some of the crashes that the A320 aircraft have had? The answer seems to be yes!

An Indian Airlines A320 crashed in Bangalore, India in 1990. The cause of the crash was a controlled flight into ground during approach. The aircraft hit about 1200 feet short of the runway. Also, an Air Inter A320 crashed near Strasbourg, France in 1992. The aircraft had a controlled flight into terrain after the flight crew incorrectly set the flight management system. Is there an inherent problem with the computer system design? Is it too hard to understand?

Well in at least in these two incidences it is quite true. I for one would like the flight control system reviewed again, the first time was when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified the fly-by-wire system for use in United States airspace.

My heartfelt condolences to the families of those killed in the air crash that might not have happened if Airbus would fix its fly-by-wire control system.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike

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