Airbus Industrie is considering eight display screens for the cockpit of the new A3XX airliner.

According to Aerospatiale Matra, a consortium member, engineering groups have worked on a wide range of aspects, including cabin configuration, performance, flight deck ergonomics, the impact on airport environments, pollution, and ground handling. Wind tunnel work focused not only on the aircraft's aerodynamic performance, but also included tests to check out the effect of the aircraft's wake on smaller aircraft. The wing design was tested on an A340 last year to check out the possibility of reducing the size of the horizontal stabilizer. More than 30 possible improvements to the wing design were investigated.

Various seating configurations of the A3XX are being considered by Airbus.

Airbus also has a continuing weight reduction program using such materials as the laminated aluminum-glass fiber composite, GLARE, for the aircraft's upper fuselage panels. CFRP, a carbon-fiber-based composite, could be used for the wingbox. Simulated tests have been carried out to check the effect of landing on Toulouse-Blagnac's runway.

Powerplants for the A3XX could come from Rolls-Royce, or the General Electric-Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance (GP7000). The Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 would likely include a fan with swept blades, second generation three-dimensional aerodynamics in medium- and high-pressure compressors, a tiled combustor, and a contra-rotating HP rotor.

Engineers have been wind tunnel testing a 1/28th scale model of the new A3XX.

More information has also emerged about the A3XX's cockpit. Its development is the responsibility of Aerospatiale Matra. Aerospatiale stated in the company publication Revue, that since the rollout of the A320, Airbus aircraft have used the Cross-Crew Qualification (CCQ) philosophy. According to Airbus, this allows crews trained on any one Airbus variant to qualify for another after some eight working days of training. It typically requires 25 days of training from one conventional airliner to another of a different type. This was achieved, in part, by the fly-by-wire controls, which provide sufficiently similar piloting "feel" and the commonality of the man/machine interface in the cockpits – same side-stick controller with identical levels of feel, similarly displayed information on the instrument panel, system management recommendations, and warnings based on the same logic. These allow pilots to familiarize themselves with aircraft, which may differ in other respects.

Aerospatiale said that the A3XX flight deck will not only retain such features but will add others designed to make aircraft operation simpler and more user-friendly. Displays will be larger, so design engineers had to be mindful not to impede pilots' leg movements and to ensure that windshield vision was not restricted. Position of all instruments has yet to be finalized, particularly with regard to the engineer's station. Language is an area of careful consideration, as is how best to formulate alert messages to avoid errors of misinterpretation. More visible and tactile, the use of a screen pointer will make a more direct dialog between pilot and systems possible. To ensure operational ease for the crew ergonomics engineers are performing evaluations using relevant models and simulations. Several airline pilots have been involved with the design and layout of the A3XX flight deck, and work is continuing throughout this year.

The A3XX is slated to be in service by 2005.

A design simulator used at an earlier stage will be fitted with designators and large screens for dynamic evaluation in a realistic flight context. Where possible, alternative designs and layout will be demonstrated on workstations. Safety is a major concern in the design.

Presented at the bottom of the navigation display will be a plot of the aircraft's vertical trajectory in conjunction with flight management system-generated safe altitudes, the plot being overlaid on the terrain contour provided by a terrain database. This will give pilots a visual perception of altitude. Daily in-screen displays of airport layouts and the path to follow when travelling to the parking apron will facilitate taxiing and avoid possible errors. Moving the cursor over the large displays in combination with the designator will make other functions possible. A pilot will merely need to click on any of the instructions on the ECAM monitor's alert menus and the check-list items to more effectively implement the proposed safest course.

Mockup of the Airbus A3XX nose section.

An onboard information system is also under development to integrate databases and customer airline software, available to pilots, cabin attendants, and maintenance technicians. These new functions and the way they interface will affect the avionics architecture. This architecture will interlink the avionics functions (flight data generation, flight plan computation, air-to-ground communications, and designation of objects on the screen) and will take reliability and operational efficacy into account.

Stuart Birch

Aerospace Engineering June 2000