Thank you Charlie Delta, finally a reasonable post, not colored by blind patriotism or over-generalization of single experiences!- Oyvind

charliedeltaWell said - you put things very well. I would say though that pushing the envelope (not actually) in avionics developement and sophistication can only lead to better safety for all of us.Tony

"It's Fly By Electricity that's relatively new, being first attempted in the 1960s.... (Airbus) were AFAIK the first to use it in a civilian airliner class aircraft."Nope, that would have been the 1950 Bristol Brabazon - which never entered commercial service :-(The Brabazon was an astounding technological marvel, but an economic disaster. The designers built a plane bigger than a B-747, that was expected to carry about 80 passengers. The assumption was that air travel would remain attractive to only the wealthy, who would never tolerate being packed into rows of seats. The design called for 200 - 270 cubic feet of space per passenger.Bristol also stuck to tried and true piston-engined props for the plane (8 of them) even though by 1944 when the decision was made the Worlds first production jet - the Gloster Meteor - was already demonstrating the superiority of the jet engine.Richard

"I agree with this entirely although on a recent flight there were seats available on the exit row but BECAUSE I am disabled I was not allowed to sit there for safety reasons."On a recent hop from Long Beach to Oakland a guy had checked in online and selected the aisle seat in an exit row. He had a metal leg brace actually screwed into his bones above and below the knee. The flight attendant told him he couldn't sit there, they would need to reseat him. He got very angry about it, yelling at her that his injury made it necessary for him to have the exit row with its extra legroom. She tried to be polite and explain why he couldn't stay, but he wasn't having any of it.Suffice it to say that he got obnoxious enough that legroom on the plane ceased to be an problem for him :-)Richard

I don't like the fact that all Airbuses have the same flight deck. I think that its inviting confusion. What do you think.

I think i's actually less confusing, you know where to find everything no matter what type. You just have to be aware of what type you are flying. My company operates the 320 and 321, that's why we start every briefing with "This is a 321(or 320)... " Like I said, it makes type ratings for different aircraft less complicated, you can have two different types on your license 320/330 for example. And you will notice the difference between these two :-)Mazzl,Joost

Looks like the painting department doesn't like the new plane much! :-lolhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/83715.jpg

Just off a BA 737 where reclining mechanism was in permanemt recline!Steward asked me to sit in upright position on landing which was impossible. I told crew as I left aircraft that seat 8a was ********.I receives a polite thank you!Bet you its occupied for the rest of the day/week/year anyway.