Airbus A300 - Design

Design

Airbus partners employed the latest technology, some derived from the Concorde. On entry into service in 1974, the A300 was a very advanced plane and influenced later subsonic airliner designs. The technological highlights include:

• Advanced wings by de Havilland (later BAE Systems) with:
  • supercritical airfoil section for economical performance
  • advanced aerodynamically efficient flight controls
• 5.64 m (222 in) diameter circular fuselage section for 8-abreast passenger seating and wide enough for 2 LD3 cargo containers side-by-side
• Structures made from metal billets, reducing weight
• First airliner to be fitted with wind shear protection
• Advanced autopilots capable of flying the aircraft from climb-out to landing
• Electrically controlled braking system

Later A300s incorporate other advanced features such as:

• 2-man crew by automating the flight engineer's functions, an industry first
• Glass cockpit flight instruments
• Extensive use of composites for an aircraft of its era
• Center-of-gravity control by shifting around fuel
• Wingtip fences for better aerodynamics (first introduced on the A310-300).

All these made the A300 a substitute for the widebody trijets such as McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 for short to medium routes. On the early versions, Airbus used the same engines and similar major systems as the DC-10.