Airbus A300

Twin - engine turbofan low - wing with swept wing and single- tail plumage .

The construction of the first prototype Airbus A300B1 aircraft began in September 1969. The first flight took place on October 28, 1972, and at the end of June 1973 - the first flight of the Airbus A300B2 aircraft, the fuselage of which was extended by 2.6 m. At the end of the flight tests, in which 4 cars participated, in mid-March 1974 it was certified France and Germany, and at the end of May of the same year - in the United States. Then began the serial production of new airliners.

The first aircraft was delivered in May 1974. The Airbus A300B2-100 airliners with General Electric CF6-50C engines initially appeared on the market.

The next modification was the Airbus A300B4 with improved performance and increased flight range. The prototype made its first flight on December 26, 1974. This model was certified in March 1975. Regular operation of the aircraft began in May 1975.

Airbus А300В and its development experience served as the basis for further activities of the Airbus consortium. On the basis of the passenger aircraft, a cargo-passenger version of the Airbus А300С4 and a cargo version of the Airbus A300F4 were created. However, they did not receive wide distribution - in total four cars were built. The cabin could accommodate up to 20 cargo pallets, and in the lower cargo compartments - up to 20 containers of type LD3 with a total weight of up to 40,000 kg.

At the end of 1980, the Airbus consortium began to develop an improved version - the Airbus A300-600 for medium and long-haul airlines. The prototype (with Pratt & Whitney JT9D -7R4H1 engines) completed its first flight on July 8, 1983. In early March 1984, it was certified in France. In March 1985, certification of the CF6-80C2 version of the aircraft was completed, and in September, deliveries began. The first to receive this model was the Thai airline Thai Airways .

On the basis of the Airbus A300-600, an option was developed with an increased flight range - the Airbus A300-600R. The Airbus consortium began its creation in 1985. The first flight of the Airbus A300-600R (with engines General Electric CF6-80C2A5) made December 9, 1987. In March 1988, its certification in Europe and the USA was completed. The first aircraft was delivered at the end of April 1988 by the American airline American Airlines . At the end of September 1988, the first flight of the variant with Pratt & Whitney engines took place; deliveries began in November 1988. In March 1990, an Airbus A300-600R aircraft equipped with General Electric engines was FAA certified for ETOPS compliance with twin-engine long-haul aircraft, according to which the aircraft can fly for 180 minutes to an alternate aerodrome with one engine running. The Airbus A300-600R has been mass-produced since 1987. By the beginning of 1996, 148 aircraft of this model were delivered.

On the basis of the Airbus A300-600R aircraft, a specially formed SATIC company developed the Beluga cargo A300-600ST , designed to transport large-sized structures (fuselage sections, wing consoles, plumage surfaces and engines) for passenger aircraft of the Airbus consortium from manufacturers to France to the assembly complex in Kolomye (a suburb of Toulouse). In the cockpit of an airplane, cargo weighing up to 45,000 kg can be transported at a distance of 2,700 km.

In 1997, the French National Center for Space Research received a modified Airbus A300 ZERO-G aircraft to simulate zero gravity.

In 2005, world airlines operated 407 Airbus A300 aircraft of all models.

By 2015, the liner was decommissioned at the largest airlines in the world and Europe and replaced with the later Airbus A330 .

The largest number of cars was produced as a purely passenger aircraft with approximately 250 seats, although both convertible units (A300C4) and fully laden vehicles (A300F4) were produced. Since the mid-1990s, only one cargo variant has been produced - the A300F4-600R. Until May 2005, 135 orders were received.

In July 2007, the production of the A300 was discontinued in order to use the production facilities for the assembly of newer aircraft. The last aircraft of this type was delivered July 12, 2007 in a modification of the A300F4-600R for the FedEx cargo airline. Over the entire production period, 561 wide-body A300 aircraft were made. As of October 2008, there were 412 aircraft of this type in operation.

Airbus manufactures are located in various European countries. Housing parts are manufactured in the UK , other components in France and Germany . Between factories, parts are transported by air and by road.

In France ( Toulouse ), unfinished unfinished vehicles are produced. The interior decoration, as the final action takes place in Hamburg- Finkenwerder, then the plane flies to Toulouse and then delivered to customers. Such a production scheme is unique and exists only with Airbus, and although there have always been attempts to reproduce such a production, primarily in France, but so far they remain only attempts.

Since all the increasing parts of the aircraft could no longer be transported to Super Guppy , on the basis of the A300-600, a special aircraft A300-600ST was developed, also known as Airbus Beluga , produced to date in the amount of 5 copies.

The third built instance of the A300 (year of production 1973, serial number 003) was purchased in 1998 by the CNES French Space Administration. Since then, the company Novespace on its order conducts parabola flights on this machine. The machine is also known under the name A300-ZERO-G.

Initially, A300 B2-100 airliners with General Electric CF6-50C engines appeared on the market. At the end of 1976, deliveries of A300 B2-200 aircraft began , which equipped the Pratt & Whitney JT9D-59A turbofan engine .

The next modification (А300 В4 ) was equipped with an analog avionics complex with information output to electromechanical indicators. For the Indonesian airline, a specially designed crew cabin (with a dashboard where all the necessary indicators are concentrated) was developed - according to the so-called FFCC ( Forward Facing Crew Cockpit ) concept.

The cargo and passenger version of the A300 C4 and cargo - the A300 F4 had a cargo door measuring 3.58 × 2.56 m on the left side of the fuselage in front of the wing.

The design of the A300-600 used the front and center sections of the fuselage and the wing of the A300B2 / B4 aircraft, and the tail of the fuselage was taken from the A310 aircraft. The cockpit became the same as on the A310 , the digital avionics systems - EFIS and ECAM - were also taken from the A310 model. In order to ensure the required alignment, the fuselage was lengthened by 0.53 m, “wings” were installed at the ends of the wing. A prototype (with JT9D-7R4H1 engines), a certified version of the aircraft with CF6-80C2 engines.

A300 -600R - to increase the flight range, an additional fuel tank with a capacity of 6150 liters was placed in horizontal tail. This allowed us to solve another problem - using the fuel transfer system it became possible to control the balancing of the aircraft in flight (for the first time such a system was used on an A310-300 aircraft). Engines - General Electric CF6-80C2A5 and Pratt & Whitney.

A300-600ST Beluga - the aircraft features a fuselage diameter increased to 7.7 m and a nose fairing opening upwards. At the ends of the horizontal tail there are two end “washers”.

During the development of the A300, it was almost impossible to imagine that a plane with two engines would be able to make transatlantic and Pacific flights. Therefore, the range was determined only for continental flights. Later, the limited range became a major drawback of the aircraft.

As of July 20, 2019, a total of 35 Airbus 300 aircraft were lost as a result of disasters and serious accidents ^[2] . They tried to hijack the Airbus 300 30 times, killing 12 people ^[3] . A total of 1,435 people died in these incidents.