Airbus on The Spot

By Gordon Bock

The Airbus A320 had been delivered to Air France only two days earlier, and the airline was proud to welcome 130 passengers aboard its new plane last week for a scenic demonstration flight. During the 45-minute ride, the sophisticated craft was supposed to buzz the tarmac at a French air show and swoop past 15,771-ft. Mont Blanc. The twin-jet aircraft, renowned as the world's most electronically advanced commercial airliner and celebrated as a symbol of Europe's technological prowess, was packed with local dignitaries, sightseers and journalists. Also aboard: a handful of aviation buffs who paid up to $70 each for a ticket and 20 people who won the ride in a local newspaper contest. Some had never flown before.

The demonstration quickly turned into disaster. Four minutes after takeoff from a commercial airport just north of Basel, Switzerland, the plane made the first of two planned low-altitude flybys for the crowd of 15,000 attending the air show at the tiny Habsheim, France, airstrip 15 miles away. The announcer touted the new jet ("It's so quiet you can barely hear its engines") as it went by at about 135 m.p.h.

Then the crowd gasped as the plane failed to gain altitude, clipped a stand of 40-ft. beech trees at the end of the runway, and seemed to sink gently into the forest. It came to rest in one piece, but a spreading pool of jet fuel ignited and engulfed the plane. Even so, the chief steward and three flight attendants stayed with the craft, evacuating passengers on inflatable emergency chutes. The crew's heroism kept casualties remarkably low, but three people were killed and about 90 injured. The plane was a total loss, recognizable only by its red-white-and-blue tail section.

The crash was a painfully timed psychological setback for Europe's costly venture in commercial-jet building. The A320 is a daring new breed of plane, the world's first commercial airliner in which the pilots "fly by wire" -- controlling the engines and wing surfaces (rudder, flaps, ailerons) via computers and electronic commands rather than hydraulic or cable linkages. The fallen jet was only the sixth A320 to come off the assembly line at the Airbus Industrie consortium's plant in Toulouse. But the questions arising from the accident apply to the entire aircraft industry, for the planes of the future will be increasingly controlled by computer software instead of human reflexes and judgment.

The A320's rapid commercial success is hastening that trend. Orders streamed in while the plane was still on the drawing boards, and 21 customers have signed to buy 319 of the high-tech jets at roughly $35 million apiece and have taken out options for an additional 203, making it the fastest-selling airliner in aviation history. Airbus, funded by the governments of France, Britain, West Germany and Spain, desperately needs those sales because its market share and profitability have been eroded by the U.S. dollar's decline. None of the A320's buyers canceled orders last week, but all will be eager for reassurance that the plane's basic design was not at fault.

French government officials rushed to absolve the plane, even though the precise cause of the crash will require a month-long study. In a news conference, Transport Minister Louis Mermaz declared that "there is no reason to question the proper functioning of the plane or its use." He did not fix the blame on pilot error, but other officials alleged that Pilot Michel Asseline, 44, had been flying much too low, at only about 30 ft., far below the minimum safe level of 100 ft. This was less than totally comforting for Airbus and Air France, however, because the veteran Asseline is the airline's chief flight instructor on the new plane.

The French airline pilots' union came to Asseline's defense, saying it believed his version of events and insisting that no conclusions should be drawn until the investigation is finished. Asseline and his co-pilot reportedly told investigators that the airplane's instruments showed that the plane was at 100 ft. just before it went over the runway. According to a rescue worker, moments after Asseline emerged from the wreckage, dazed but unharmed, he said, "I wanted to boost the power, but the aircraft did not respond."

Fly-by-wire controls make thousands of computerized adjustments a minute, allowing pilots to fly planes that are far more streamlined -- but less stable -- than those of the past. Many U.S. military planes are now completely computer controlled, including the F-14 and F-16 fighters and the B-1B bomber. But those planes do not need to be as stable as commercial airliners. Says Tom Foxworth, a pilot for a major U.S. airline: "The difference is that if things go wrong, military pilots can pull a switch and bail out. But your Aunt Tilly in the back of a commercial airliner isn't equipped to."

The computers of advanced aircraft like the A320 are also programmed to prevent pilot error by limiting the plane's response to dangerous commands. But some pilots believe such safeguards could be a handicap in emergency situations that require sudden maneuvers, like those necessary to avoid a collision. Says John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association: "A computer can only react to the possibilities that have been programmed into it." Some experts speculate that because the Airbus jet's wheels were down as it swooped over the air show, the computers might have been tricked into thinking the plane was landing. Airbus officials discount this possibility.

Computer-controlled jets are attractive to the airlines at least partly because of their low operating costs. The gadgetry of the A320 eliminates the need for a third member of the cockpit crew, creating a cost-cutting advantage for airlines struggling for profits in the age of deregulation. Airbus also boasts that the plane is 40% more fuel efficient than older, comparably sized models like the Boeing 727 because of its lighter weight and streamlined profile.

U.S. aircraft builders are moving in the same direction as Airbus, but more cautiously. The new Boeing 757 and 767 models have computer-controlled engines, though the wing and tail surfaces are still linked to the cockpit by hydraulics. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11, the replacement for the DC-10, will be fully computerized, but the wing and tail surfaces will have a mechanical backup system so that "whatever the airplane is capable of, the pilot can get full response," a spokesman says. Nonetheless, mechanical linkages will no doubt be obsolete someday. Boeing is even studying the feasibility of controls that will be connected by light waves through fiber-optic cables.

The A320 has been an instant best seller. Though the Federal Aviation Administration has yet to approve the use of the jets for U.S. flights, Northwest Airlines has ordered 100 of them for delivery beginning next year. Pan Am has 16 on order, with an option to buy 34 more. Last week, as if to prove its faith in the A320, the leasing firm GATX-LC ordered ten of the planes.

Airbus has a lot riding on the A320's success. Founded 18 years ago, the consortium has spent nearly $2 billion over the past four years to develop the high-tech plane. Although Airbus has succeeded in selling its earlier models, the A300 and the A310, to 58 airlines, the consortium's continuing losses have been aggravated by the weak dollar. The aircraft manufacturer prices its planes in U.S. currency but must pay most of its expenses in relatively stronger European currencies. The consortium last year boasted a 23% share of all worldwide aircraft orders, placing it behind Boeing's 50% but just ahead of McDonnell Douglas' 22.5%. This year, however, Airbus has slipped to No. 3, with 12%, vs. 70% for Boeing and 18% for McDonnell.

Despite professions of confidence from airlines, the A320 is likely to be watched with special scrutiny until it can establish a long-running safety record. Last week's crash was preceded by several glitches involving the new model. The first A320 to be delivered to Air France suffered a failure in four of its five electrical circuits in March when a transformer failed just before takeoff on a demonstration run over Paris with then Premier Jacques Chirac on board. Air France says a backup system immediately took over and there was never any danger to passengers or the plane.

Such incidents may be flukes, because the A320 was successfully tested for more than 1,650 hours on nearly 800 flights before it won its French certificate of airworthiness. Passengers should hope so because it is likely that all of them will someday be flying by wire.

With reporting by William Dowell/Paris and Jay Peterzell/Washington