What do you think of the Airbus A330?

yes i’m not encouraged myself after the latest crash. i have to admit that i’m avoiding traveling on this plane especially as i’m not a big fan of turbulence. in fact when i fly i always look to see what the aircraft is going to be.

I had faced two times crash in my career. I am survived from it. Every machines have some technical faults. Any machine is not completely fit. When you fly or drive a machine do you know when it make disturbances.

Boeing and Airbus approach two different philosophies.
While noth manufacturers incorporate inflight computers to aid the pilots aviate and navigate
the aircraft. Basically today’s jetliners can
almost virtually fly on their own after the pilots
input the route data to the inboard computers.
However, the Airbus puters would at many times
reject pilit’s manual flying inputs, if the computer
thinks these imputs are illogical, unsafe or would
stress airframe.
With Boeing airplanes pilots always have the last
say and can have full controls whenever they choose
without computers getting in the way.
I’d prefer a 777 or 767 anytime over 330’s anytime.
Best wishes,
DX.

Strange, isn’t it better to have bigger wings area to be less vulnerable to bad weather conditions? If there are some vortexes say 10 meters lenght, a wing wich is 15 meter span will be affected on 66% and wing with 20 meters span will be affected only 50%. And what mean A330 has underpowered engines to save fuel? Same engine can produce 25k or 30k depending on softwear setting. This mean that flying with economy speed using 15k from engines for example it doesn’t matter are they set to 25 or 30k – they produce same thrust with same amount of fuel- isn’t it?

What was said that airplanes with larger wings “being unstable in turbulence” is false, theoretically and practically an airplane with a larger wing, fuselage or larger than other plane will be more stable in turbulence than a smaller one, Stoyan wrote the correct explanation, one portion of the wing is in the turbulence and the other not. So, an airbus A330 will feel almost the same than a Boeing 777 in heavy turbulence.
I do not think that the A330 is underpowered, that is incorrect. Mexicana used the A330 for their transatlantic flights to Madrid and some to London, if the A330 was underpowered, it could not have taken off from Mexico City (MMMX), remember that MMMX is a hot and high at 7325 ft of altitude, a heavy and underpowered plane with a lot of Pax, cargo and fuel would simply not taken off, but it always flew uneventfully and non stop!, by comparison the Aeroméxico B777 always take off from MMMX to Shangai and has to stop for refueling at Tijuana (MMTJ), so in this case clearly A330 performed much better than the B777.

The A330 has been having quite a lot of dangerous incidents recently connected to the weather. Cold or turbulent weather confuses the pilot and the computer and damages the electronics.
It has a problem with severe tropical weather and Qantas has complained about this a few times.

i will fly a330 from GZ to melbourne soon, and i am being scared now, as many here say a330 is not safe… it is a long flight, over 9 hours and i am very scared if it will be alongside with the the whole flight 

Many many thanks to capt. Lim and all other who share in this.
I am new graduated CPL with MEIR holder waiting emplyment.

Many many thanks to capt. Lim and all other who share in this.
I am new graduated CPL with MEIR holder waiting emplyment.

I’ve flown with THY airbus A330-300 from Istanbul to Jakarta trough Singapore and vise versa.
I didn’t encounter much turbulance on both trips ( well over 12 hours flight) and the plane wasn’t loud aswell. It was a very comfortable and enjoyable flight without any problems.

i’m also a nervous passanger, I recently fly from jakarta to bali with Garuda’s A330, when it taxiing there were metallic noises coming from the landing gear everytime it hits a bump on the runway,

Well, there was once I flew from Beijing to Singapore (SG) which was suppose to depart at 8.30 am. However, there was a thunder storm raging outside. So we sat on the plane, delaying for 4 hours and we ate lunch at 10. We reached SG at 6.30 pm when suppose to reach at 3.30pm.

Hi all, nice to see a long thread about 2 great planes. I have flown on both these planes regularly to africa. First I believe the A330 is a great plane. All airbus planes appear to have better humidity, and less cabin noise then the boeing ones. The KLM A330-200 ‘s are very nice and comfortable, and as for turbulance, I think we are being deceived by science. The truth is any plane is uncomfortable during turbulance. The KQ 777-200ERs are nice and roomy. But,I still feel the A330 is better from a passenger point of view. Saying they are underpowered is total lies, they take of from hot and high places like NBO, and EBB with a full payload and fly non-stop to their hubs in Europe. Although, I obviously appreciate that the 777 is superior in hot and high conditons. However, both planes are not designed for the same purpose, they are different sizes and do not compete directly. And, I think the 767 is a very uncomfortbale plane to fly on, especially, the BA 767, they are old, noisy and most I have been on to Africa seem to be in poor repair (inside the cabin). I think it would be fairer to compare the 767 with the A330, as they are very similar -interms of marketing and purpose. When the A350 is flying this could be then compared to the 777. However, the 787 is looking much better than the A330. Both Beoing and Airbus make great planes with safely records which compare relatively equally. Competition is good for passengers, enjoy your flights!

I recently flew from Orlando to Manchester UK a trip we have made many times in a 747.
We found the A-330 to be the most uncomfortable aircraft we have ever been on.
Maybe Virgin Atlantic opted for the cheap seats on this plane, all I know is that 40 years of flying on many aircraft types my backside has never been so numb.
We won’t fly one again.

im scard and exited at the same time

There was a statement earlier by Stoyan and agreed to by CF that was incorrect. An aircraft with an aspect ratio that is larger, i.e. 10 vs 7 will produce more lift than an aircraft with a smaller aspect ratio. What this means is that an A330 wing, which has an aspect ratio of 11, will need less airflow than an aircraft such as an MD-11, which has an aspect ratio of 9, to become airborne and remain airborne. When turbulence hits the aircraft with the higher ratio (A330) it will have a greater effect on the wing, and resultantly the passengers, than an aircraft with a lower aspect ratio. The more the lift, the more the disturbances are felt.

I was recently on a MEA A330 from Paris to Beirut and strong lateral winds over Turkey had many devout passengers break into prayer. I have to say that we could feel the plane going sideways. On the flight monitoring channel, it was obvious that the pilot then significantly altered the plane’s original course

Dear All,

I am a very nervous passenger, the phobia of flying it self makes me afraid to top this I have to fly A 330-200 every time my experience with the plane was not good you can feel the turbulence all the way, can’t eat it’s a very uncomfortable aircraft with very low safety record it’s a very rough plane specially during turbulence miserable feeling can some one tell me how to cope with the situation

Maybe all you guys should check your facts, both aircraft have the same wing span, give or take a few cm’s, therefor the A330 has better wing loading (lower MTOW) and if both planes flew through the same turbulence then the 777 might be worse off. For those of you who don’t know, when Airbus launched the A340 the ETOPS laws only allowed 4 engine aircraft on long journeys over the sea. When the FAA changed the laws to suit Boeing and the 777, Airbus was caught on the wrong foot but have since caught up and could possibly overtake Boeing’s 777 sales soon.

Flying is the safest way of transport. You are more likely to get an accident while driving to and from the airport. The A330 is a very safe aircraft, I have flown it to Abu Dhabi to and from Dusseldorf with Etihad’s A330-300.
The flight was very comfortable and the aircraft looks fresh and new. I’m getting more and more respect for the A330. However, I prefer the B767 (my favourite) or B777, just because Boeing is more ‘for the pilots’ and Airbus is more involved in computer technologies. Both the B777 and A330 are very comfortable in flight, I found the B777 a bit more spacious. As for turbulence, I have once flown with an A340, and I experienced some severe turbulence, but turbulence shouldn’t put you down because it is not dangerous, rather uncomfortable. But please, go flying, look at the records. There were only 373 fatalities on 18 scheduled passenger flights worldwide. Considering that there are roughly 10 million flights per year in the U.S. alone, this is a remarkable feat. Hope this helps you, enjoy your flight everybody.

Reading these posts, actually made me even more nervous about my flight than I already was. I have avoided almost all flying for the past 6 years and in 3 days, I will embark on a long 14hr+ flight journey with 2 stop-overs in between. The longest part of the trip will be a 10hr flight from finland to japan with the A330-300 (Finnair). Considering the recent incidents with this aircraft and the fact that turbulence is felt more by passengers, I am getting increasingly more worried about the flights now. I know it is irrational, but cannot seem to get over it.

I Don´t know what you are talking about, of the A330 not been under power, !!! It is under power!!! We Fly out of Bogota 8355 feet altitud field to Barcelona With 250 Pax and the fuel for a 10 hours fly take off 12ºc oat and you are at the limit, you can take (CERO CARGO) when the rwy is wet you have to deplane passegers so you can be at the max take off weight, we use RR trent 77000 pounds belive me you make some pressure on your seat at the end of the runway but one´s you are airborn what helps a lot is the wingspan wich makes it a fantastic machine I flown the 67 before and as I fly the A330 I enjoy it more and more every Flight you are going to love it, specially the technology on the A330

I am not an engineer so this was explained to me on a plain technical language. Wing design on the plane is a compromise between lift and drag. On a takeoff and landing when the speed is low you need as big as possible wings to increase the lift (less lift higher takeoff and landing speed). When in the air plain needs as small as possible wings to reduce the drag and fly faster (all useful surface on low speed becomes a drag on high speed). So the compromise have to be made by reducing the size and angle of the wing. In the air a bigger wing has more drag (resistance) any extra sudden airflow will increase the bad flying experience. But turbulence is not a linear force only and doesn’t always effect wings only so planes with smaller wings can be affected too.

Hi I have flown 777 a few times with Singapore air
I commented to my friends I though it was the best plane I have flown on
(747 737, 767, 777 , A330 , liber 190, bae 186, dc9, dc10

hello everyone!
I am Thomas from Dubai. I have to fly to Singapore from Dubai by Singapore airline and I have two options for my trip which is fly with Airbus a 330-300 or Boeing B777-300. I can’t make the final decision until now which one should I fly with! Can u give me some ideas?

Dear All,

I found lot of them share their aviation experience of Airbus and Boeing aircrafts, some they were asking advise what type of aircraft to fly whether A330 or Boeing 777, please note that whatever the aircraft you fly, if you time come to die, aircraft will take you, you don’t need to chose the aircraft type, so be belief in God whatever the aircraft you fly. Simple logic, from you board an airplane till you it lands to your destination, nothings in hand of the pilot, there is some god’s power to reach you there safely the entire lives on the airplance including flight deck crew and flight attendants.

Taking one in just over a week from yvr to amsterdam.

Is there a way to check the weather on the flight path to see if it is going to be bumpy or there is no point to psych myself out further?

Last long flight was 5 years ago… but flown a lot for 2 years on small commuter planes. Still cant get over the issues… maybe a lot of screwdrivers? Hehe

innovation is not always the best thing

Agreed Airbus introduced many new firsts but at what cost

Boeing is a more conservative company but it’s products are rock solid hardware

777 has had no major incidence the London one was a engine issue nothing wrong with the flight navigation or frame

The 330 air France was completely its own making you should hear to the cockpit voice recorder the machine confused the hell out of pilots and virtually crashed itself

Same thing happened to a air Asia 320

Both planes start climbing fro no reason then stall and fall from sky
Reason is when they pass through storms in inter climatic zones close to equator
The shit computer cannot under stand that I cannot be flying at zero speed all of a sudden mid air

People say computers are Better than humans but that is not a silver bullet
If I see a meter which sounds way off I will think maybe the meter is wrong computer won’t

Anyways when inside a Boeing even the construction quality is far superior
On a 380 I swear putty used in rest room to cover the edges not aligning
Really and this was in the top airline Singapore airlines
A quantas 380 blew its engine mid air and again it was confusing the pilots it was lucky that there were some of the best brain flying that plane that 550 people survived

Anyways did we not learn from titanic not to put all eggs in one basket

Dreamliner was true innovation better per seat fuel economy than this mammoth risk

Airbus is fucked up

When a brand new plane made by a French manufacturer flown by a French airline by French pilots drops out of sky what did Airbus say
Oh sorry pilots couldn’t under stand the computer
What shit

If now look what I fly and I never fly the Airbus

I request you to do the same

Until this cover up company run by cheats comes out and takes responsibility for its actions

And it is not a American vs European thing and do not make it

They are just integrators

Boeing depends heavily on Europe and even India as usa does not have enough titanium

But it is the company philosophy that makes the difference

This webpage is full of the most idiotic comments I have ever seen. To start off with, there seem to be tons of people that believe flying is as dangerous as it was in the freaking 1970s. Aircraft are statistically way more safe than cars. If you crash you’re really damn unlucky. The next type of people are the stupid ones who think that a single bad experience with the plane, which 99% of the time has nothing to do with the A330 at all. It is usually because of bad weather at the time, or the ground staff doing something wrong. There were at least 10 people who attributed turbulence to the plane itself. Does any freaking person actually know what it is? It’s never caused by the aircraft, because turbulence is simply a natural air pocket in the sky. Idiots. The A330 was the best plane flying in its time, and is still a heavily used aircraft, and much appreciated too. The only reason Boeing created the 777 was to compete with the A330, which was wiping not only the floor with the 767, but wiping the windows and table too. The last person that needs to be mentioned is the one dumbass Boeing fanboy, of whom would make all the actual Boeing fanboys be ashamed of the idiotic person that is trying and failing to admire a hundred years of greatness from Boeing, and instead ranting at Airbus. It really is hilarious, you should try and find it. He starts off by stating that the A330 has a bad safety record and that it has had more fatal crashes than the 777. This is true, but have you forgotten MH370 and MH17. MH17 was not actually Boeings fault, but neither was Air France 447 the fault of Airbus. The pilots were incompetent and lacked proper training for the plane. As for the icing of the pitot tubes, it could have happened to any aircraft. Later on you stated that the A380 is dangerous because of a single engine explosion that actually proved how safe it was. The captain, Richard De Crespigny, wrote a book about the flight, and stated dozens of times that if it were another plane, the flight would have crashed. I could effectively destroy the other arguments even more easily, but that would take too long and I have better things to do. Anyway, whoever wrote that is a deluded fool and must have some sort of problem. I wish him/her a speedy recovery. I hope that you people could listen to me and know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with flying on an A330. It is a beautiful aircraft and I hope it stays in service for many years to come.

It appears that some idiotic people attribute the comfortablness of the plane to Airbus. Idiots. The airline decides what type of seats to install, the legspace, etc. It is NOT Airbus. Also , the theory that the A330 does not operate properly in tropical weather is completey ridiculous and 100% wrong. If there was a problem the FAA would ground the aircraft and Airbus would fix the problem. There have not been any crashes because of electronic failure in tropical weather. There are also people that are pretending to be pilots and competely failing, or else they are the least qualified pilots ever.