Airbus A310mania
For those who don't know, the A310 is/was the successor of the A300-600 and one of the most modern airliners in the 1980's. With only roughly 250 built, it paved the way for any modern Airbus model in the air today around the globe. It didn't feature fly-by-wire and therefore flight augmentation and envelope protection though, but it introduced electronic centralized aircraft monitoring, systems display and the classic sounds and "all lights-off" concept on pushbutton lights (if everything is working properly) that still is part of the Airbus flight deck philosophy these days. One thing that was really cool in the cockpit was the classic yokes on the control columns.
With regards to the exterior, the nose and tail section can still be found on the A330. The cockpit window design is also kept on most modern Airbus models. I actually used to fly with the A310 to holiday destinations in the 1990's with my parents, operated by Hapag Lloyd back then. I vividly still remember a cockpit poster in a huge lighted display in a local tourist office around 1990 which was extremely inspiring as a kid. I even found it on the web again (obviously it was from Swiss Air)...
There are only a very few Aircraft still in service today on the planet. The last one in Germany is operated by the German Air Force. It remains in service longer as planned as they use it to fly victims of the war in Ukraine to Germany.
The guys from airclips.com managed to create a great cockpit video of the A310 operated by the German Air Force. Enjoy:
Nice Landing at Madeira:
Azores Airlines A310 landing on runway 05 at Madeira with a unique cockpit view.
www.youtube.com
In the late 1990's I got an A310 cockpit video on VHS from Swiss Air. I never expected to see that again more than 20 years later on Youtube...
For those who are interested, that great classic Airbus will be available as a high fidelity simulation for MSFS
for free late this year, as part of the free MSFS 40th anniversary update...
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