When it comes to commercial airliners there are most likely two names that people have heard of before, Boeing and Airbus. Both companies have a wide variety of aircraft which they produce and many of them compare very closely to the rival companies aircraft. Since there are only two aircraft manufacturers that dominate the market, the two companies are considered a duopoly. While Boeing and Airbus have very similar aircraft as far as capacity, structure and range, the two companies have two different approaches to their aircraft.
Boeing tends to do things the more traditional way, with a conventional yolk that hydraulically actuates the control surfaces and allows the pilot the ultimate say in what the airplane does. This system allows the pilots to feel what they are doing through the yoke. The planes computers still have built in soft limits, which warn the pilot when certain flight parameters are close to being exceeded, but the pilot continues to have control over the airplane. Airbus aircraft operate by a fly-by-wire system which is controlled through a side-stick controller. This fly-by-wire system takes inputs from a side stick and relays them through computers to hydraulically move the control surfaces. This system provides no feedback through the side stick to the pilot and requires the same amount of resistance to move the stick at all times. These computers have built-in hard limitations, or protections. These limitations do not allow the aircraft to: pitch nose-up more than 30 degrees or nose-down more than 15 degrees, bank more than 67 degrees, exceed 2.5 times the force of gravity and also has protections against overspeed. There are benefits to both the Airbus and Boeing systems. Both manufacturers have proven to be equally as safe as far as crash statistics indicate (Wallace, 2000). Boeing does have two airplanes that are completely fly-by-wire, the 777 and the 787 (Airliners, 2006). Unlike the Airbus fly-by-wire systems, Boeing's system allows the pilot to override the system in the event of an emergency if needed (Wallace, 2000).
Since the duopoly is in constant competition, the two companies different sizes of aircraft compete directly with one another. The Boeing 747-8 competes directly with the Airbus A380. Boeing's 747-8 can seat 467 passengers in a three-class configuration, cruises at a speed of Mach 0.855, has a range of 8,000 nautical miles and uses 2.8 liters of fuel per seat per 100 kilometers. The Airbus A380 is very similar except that it can seat more passengers. The A380 can seat 525 passengers in a three-class configuration, cruises at Mach 0.85, has a range of 8,300 nautical miles and burns 2.9 liters per passenger per 100 kilometers. One large difference between the two planes is the cost to purchase the aircraft, with the 747-8 costing $317.5 million and the A380 being $375.3 million (CNN, 2011). These are not the only two aircraft between the two companies which compete directly with one another. The Boeing 777 is in competition with the A330, the 737 line of aircraft compete with the A320 line and the 787 competes with the A350 (Rajagopal, 2010). As you can see, the two companies cover the entire commercial passenger aircraft market and are continuously battling for sales.
As far as marketing here in the United States, I believe the both manufacturers appeal to the same audience and when it comes down to the airlines personal preference and which they want to operate. I think that Airbus tries to promote a safer, more automated aircraft with the implementation of their fly-by-wire system and its computerized oversight, while Boeing is tries to stick with a more traditional approach that is not as automated. I personally, as a pilot, want to have complete control over what is happening with the aircraft rather than having a computer interject and only allow the inputs to do so much. This is not to say that I would not enjoy flying an Airbus plane because they are very nice planes, I just tend to favor Boeing and their whole philosophy.
References
Airliners.net. (2006). Better fly by wire philosophy: Boeing or Airbus? Retrieved March 24, 2013, from, http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/3018977/
CNN. (2011). Boeing 747-8 vs. Airbus A380 -- the airline giants face off. Retrieved March 25, 2013, from, http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/boeing-747-8-and-airbus-a380-death-match-152563
Rajagopal, A. (2010). How to know your Airbus from Boeing. Retrieved March 25, 2013, from, http://arunrajagopal.com/2010/08/12/identify-airbus-from-boeing/
Wallace, J. (2000). Unlike Airbus, Boeing lets aviator override fly-by-wire technology. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from, http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/unlike-airbus-boeing-lets-aviator-override-fly-by-wire-tech.111456/
I prefer Boeing's philosophy over Airbus as well. As far as not being able to get feedback from Airbus, a DPE in the area told me that in both Boeing and Airbus you will get feedback, but it is a fake, computerized feedback that feels like the real thing. To me, this sounds weird, but I am not the engineer that designed the system.
ReplyDeleteKyle, I was interested in a pilot’s perspective of the differences between the two aircraft. Thank you for some insight from behind the glass. It seems to me that your position on the flight surface control configuration has great merit. The more information that the pilot can get from the aircraft, the greater is his/her understanding and, therefore, capability in the moment. It seems like the fly by wire system would be like trying to give a nice massage to someone with numb hands. The related computer systems would likely also be the source of the additional $60 million on the price tag. I would think that fly-by-wire would only be used where absolutely needed for those two reasons.
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