Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aircraft manufacturers that for the first time gave the US serious competition to its original wide-body twin-engine A-300, quickly concluded that its success could only be achieved with an extended product line capable of performing several payloads and ranges. Subsequently, this “family” of airliners was joined by smaller, medium and long-range range finders, a wide-angle A-310 and an even smaller, narrow A-320 body with a small range. However, for its completion, it was necessary to replace the widescreen wide circle, which includes new technologies, to replace the first generation, fuel-hungry, longer economic operations of the Boeing 707 and McDonnell-Douglas DC-8.
However, market research has shown the need to use two different aircraft. The first one, tentatively labeled “B9”, was designed for a mid-dual design with two engines, designed for high-capacity transcontinental DC-10 routes and was originally conceived as a larger A-300 with a stretched fuselage, its existing wing and powerful turbofans. Thus, it had to consume 25 percent less fuel than a comparable three-engine DC-10.
Secondly, B11 was a four-prong intercontinental design that triggered the start of the project.
However, the cost of two such aircraft were prohibitively high, and the creation of a single wing, which could constructively and aerodynamically support both two and four pylon engines, became the basis of the commonality between the two and the economic decision to launch both of them together.
To distinguish between its narrow and broad product line, Airbus Industrie redesigned these design studies using the “TA” prefixes to indicate their two-pass configurations. “B9” was previously re-identified as “TA9”, and “B11” was branded “TA11”.
Thanks to CFM56 turbofans, which developed between 27,000 and 30,000 pounds of voltage, they evolved due to numerous iterations with the engine number reflecting the estimated length of the mission. For example, in 1982, a TA9 with a fuselage length of 27.9 feet than the original A-300 placed 410 passengers of the same class on the main deck and five pallets in the front rack and 14 LD-3 containers per stern kept on the lower deck. However, thanks to the joint project TA9 / TA11, by 1985 the joint project TA9 / TA11 included its cabin, side grip controls and flight wiring or electronic signaling, actuating the flight surface, to a wing with variable camber to increase lift .
By January 27 of the following year, the Airbus Industrie Supervisory Board revised the A-330 and A-340 projects corresponding to the original model numbers TA9 and TA11, and finalized its detailed technical definitions with prospective launch customers of Lufthansa and Swissair. Because of the requirements for the route, they showed a much greater interest in the four-engine version than in the twin.
A briefly explored collaboration with McDonnell-Douglas, in which a single design, designed by AM-300 and incorporating the A-330 wing and MD-11 fuselage, was quickly caused by the fact that Industrie Airbase refrained from considering the McDonnell-Douglas three-jet configuration. The MD-11 eventually became a competitor to the A-340, since both were destined for the same market.
The Airbus Industrie design, representing the second significant evolution, was able to offer significantly improved performance when it initially sold CFM56 engines with the International Aero Engine (IAE) V2500-3 Superfan, which switched on a variable pitch fan at the cutting edge of the technology; diameter is almost nine feet; the ratio of 17.5 to 1; and produced 32,000 pounds of traction. Early estimates have promised 15 percent fuel savings, although they were subsequently reduced by about a third.
The proposed aircraft, A-340-200, placed 262 passengers and had a maximum range of 7,850 miles. The second version with a 14-foot fuselage to complement 295 passengers offered a limited range of 7,000 miles and was designated A-340-300.
The program’s walls, however, suddenly collapsed when International Aero Engines suddenly resorted to the development of Superfan due to the insurmountable technological obstacles of its very advanced design, and Airbus Industrie forcibly entered into a third significant evolution when it turned to negotiations with CFM International for engine power. Moreover, Airbus was unable to meet the performance requirements, actually returning to the configuration before the Superfan, and only with respectable design features could the aircraft even come close to its intermediate iteration capabilities.
CFM International itself reworked its main CFM56 engine by increasing the diameter of its fan to achieve greater thrust, and this was resolved in the CFM56-5C1 derivative, while Airbus increased the total span of A-330 / A-340 from 183.9 to 192 , 2 feet, replacing your standard tips with 9.6-foot wings. Despite these modifications, along with a maximum take-off of 17,600 pounds sterling to 542,300 pounds, performance improved significantly than the original CFM56 aircraft, the range was soon destroyed compared to the Superfan version, to 7,700 miles for A- 340-200 and up to 6,850 miles for an elongated -300.
However, Airbus Industrie basically announced the launch of the A-330 and A-340 programs on June 5, 1987, the cost of developing which was reduced by about half a billion dollars due to the planned type and overall situation of the wing at the same time different needs of the airline market with the same platform. At that time, one hundred and thirty orders were received, of which 41 were for two-engine A-330 aircraft and 89 for four-engine A-340 aircraft.
The wing, the key to both, was built by British Aerospace in the UK and was still the most ambitious in Europe, with the largest span (exceeding 197 feet), the fastest speed (30 degrees) and the highest aspect (9.3 to facilitate high-speed cruise speeds). Despite the fact that the A-340 was designed to carry 20 percent more payload and fuel than its twin-engine counterpart, the moments of bending wings made on the fuselage allowed him to accommodate two or four sawtooth turbofans. Winglets covering about 90% of the wing chord and cut at an angle of 42.5 degrees reduced fuel by 1.5 percent through the use of the vortex created by the tip, where dragging caused by dragging was forcibly remixed.
Aerospatiale, a member of the Airbus Industrie consortium, built a plant worth 411 million dollars, 124 acres at the plant in Kolomie, which was attached to an existing facility at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France to allow up to seven aircraft per month after nodes and components were delivered from several European sites
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The first aircraft, the A-340-300, was released on October 4, 1991, at which time the combined orders of the A-330 and A-340 were 250, and the first four-cylinder Airbus Industrie engine was a cut, clean air plane weighing 440,530 pounds. first left the earth on the 21st day after October 25th. Having reached a height of 40,000 feet, he completed a successful four-hour 47-minute first flight, and his test pilots claimed that he was coping with the A-320, in which he was flying a flight.
The A-340-300 with a total length of 208.11 feet was distinguished by a wingspan of 197.10 feet and an area of 3.892.2 square feet. Identical to the A-330 wing, with the exception of external hardening and a gap between the fourth and fifth leading edges for hanging the outboard, the wing itself had full-length strips, rear edges, two suspension ailerons, and five external spoilers that operate from three independent hydraulic systems . Aileron lowered his wing. One steering wheel was directly connected to the rudder pedals on the flight deck. Chassis consisting of a two-wheel forward-retractor nasal gear; two four-wheel, internally retractable main carts; and two-cylinder, reverse axial reduction mechanism; provided a more uniform distribution of weight, especially on the weaker surfaces of the road surface.
An aircraft with limited access to 440 passengers in a single-level, nine-fold, 31-inch internal configuration could alternatively accommodate 335 passengers with two classes with 30 business and 305 economy classes or 295 passengers with three classes in the class of the 18th class, 81- business class and economy class configurations are 196, all with different densities.
From the perspective of A-340-200, which made its first flight the following year on April 1, 1992, a reduction of eight frames of the fuselage was shown, which resulted in a total length of 193 feet, passengers of class 18/74/170 or 303 passengers with two classes, located in the 30th first class and 273-level class.
After a 2400-hour test program for 750 flights, which entailed six A-340-200 and -300 airplanes, was completed on December 22, 1992, the Airbus Industrie long-distance four-engine project received the European Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) in same day and type approval of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) next year, May 27, 1993.
Lufthansa, a type-start customer, took delivery of its first A-340, 200-tuned for 228 passengers, and opened it on February 2, 1993 between Frankfurt and New York, reaching 30 percent less fuel than DC- 10-30, which he replaced. It was gradually introduced on the transatlantic routes to many of its other American gateways, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Newark and Washington.
Air France opened the first long A-340-300 into service next month on the Paris-Washington route, replacing the Boeing 747s.
The final assembly of the first twin-engine A-330, which most accurately reflected the A-340-300, was completed in February 1992 from the tenth aircraft from the combined production line A-330 / A-340. The airship, equipped with two General Electric CF6-80E1 turbofans, without a front suspension and fuselage with an axial line, first rose to the sky on November 2 with a total weight of 400,880 pounds, reaching an altitude of 41,000 feet and the completion of a successful five-hour 15-minute flight. Thanks to the experience gained with his four-engined counterpart, Airbus Industrie was able to complete its certification program in just half the traditional time. On October 21 of the following year, it became the first commercial project that simultaneously received certification of the type FAA and JAA, as well as qualification for the FAA cross crew for A-320, A-330 and A-340.
On January 17, 1994, with Air Inter / Air France Europe, on the French inland route Paris / Orly-Marseilles, the type designed by A-330-300 also flew for the first time with Pratt and Whitney PW4168 engines October 14, 1993 and Rolls Royce Trent 700s January 31, 1994.
Since the strategy of Airbus Industrie has so far offered progressively higher carrying capacity, higher gross weight fluctuations, poor sales of the A-330 twins, as well as the constant demand of airlines for slightly lower carrying capacity, a longer version and constant raids to its target market Boeing 767- 300ER, strongly advocated the need for a reverse strategy.
The new version, the A-330-200, with a decrease in frequency of ten fuselages and a total length of 193.7 feet, was authorized by the Supervisory Board of Airbus Industrie on November 24, 1995. The aircraft, which entails $ 450 million, was replaced with a structural weight for the range and, as a replacement for the DC-10 and L-1011, became a viable competitor to the 767, offering nine percent lower direct operating costs than the Boeing rival, but reaching ranges in 6,400 miles Enhanced engine reliability, combined with successful extended operations with two engines, has turned it into an economical transatlantic airliner capable of connecting Europe with all cities of the US West Coast.
The new version with a six-foot front and four-foot cuts of the fuselage showed a reinforced wing designed for the ultra-long A-340-300E, and a vertical tail 3.5 feet higher to compensate for the shorter fuselage & 39; moment of time. It was also introduced an increase in the speed of the steering wheel by five degrees to +/- 35 degrees. Accommodation entailed 253 triple or 293 double passengers. However, the greatest strength was the increase in fuel capacity to 36.7 thousand Gallons, achieved through the use of a fuel tank with a dry central sector, which led to an increase in the life cycle.
The first flight on August 13, 1996, the A-330-200, equipped with General Electric CF6-80E1A4 turbofans, at this time attracted 85 orders from eight carriers, including Asiana, Austrian Airlines, Emirates, International Lease Finance (ILFC), Sabena and Swissair. Like the A-330-200, it has always been certified by three types of power plants.
Although the A-330-100 and 500 studies absolutely led to the emergence of a completely new A-350, the development of the A-340 programs took place in the opposite or more traditional direction. Aiming to offer a more powerful replacement for the Boeing 747, Airbus Industrie originally designed the 12-foot fuselage of the existing A-340-300, designated A-340-400X, which was equipped with existing turbofans, but overwhelmingly dictated the interest of the larger aircraft.
The final version, the A-340-600, showed a 19.3-foot forward and 10.6-foot stern or collective 20-frame fuselage, which led to the world's longest airliner with a total of 245.11 feet in length. Indeed, its aeroelasticity, which led to periodic bending frequencies in flight, required the installation of pitch sensors on the fuselage and wings in order to provide feedback and movement of the elevator, limiting these bending cycles to 2–3 Hz.
The increased wingspan achieved with a conical insert produced a 20 percent increase in area to 4,703.8 square feet, a 40 percent increase in elevator and a 38 percent increase of 11,760 US gallons of fuel. The mobility also increased from 30 to 31.5 degrees with an equal increase in the angle of the wings.
A longer fuselage torque arm allowed controlling the lateral axis with a nearly two-foot short vertical tail over the A-330, but on the horizontal, all moving composite tail surface 38% support efficient pitch control.
The weight distribution was maintained with a four-wheeled undercarriage with a vertical chassis, increasing the number of pallets in the stern into two parts.
The program is worth $ 2.9 billion. The United States, launched on December 8, 1997 with 16 commitments to Virgin Atlantic, was considered on its first flight four years later on April 23, 2001. Powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 556 engines, the aircraft was in the air for five hours, 22 minutes.
For carriers that pay more attention to the range than the payload, Airbus Industrie offered, in parallel with the A-340-600, a version with lower power and an ultra-long range, denoting A-340-500. Thanks to the 1.9-foot front and three-foot foot fuselage plug over the base A-340-300, 313 passenger aircraft with three classes, six frames longer than the original -300 series or 14 frames shorter than -600, 221, 6 feet total length and used a -600 wing. The first flight was on February 11, 2002 and certified 11 months later on December 3, he received initial orders from Air Canada, Emirates, ILFC and Singapore Airlines. Its extreme range, the longest of any clean jet commercial aircraft, was demonstrated on several record flights. On February 3, 2004, for example, A-340-500, operated by Singapore Airlines, flew 7,609 nautical miles between Singapore and Los Angeles in 14 hours and 42 minutes, while the same plane covered a distance of 8,963 miles to New York five months later on June 28 at 6 pm, 18 minutes.
Using Airplus Industrie, having fully equipped the platform for airplanes and airplanes, she succeeded in developing her first high-performance long-haul aircraft, as a result of which two twin-engine and four four-door versions were released that would have the versatility to replace the early generation 707, DC-8, DC-10, L-1011 and 747 on a variety of routes, and by the end of 2008 gathered 1,400 sales to more than 100 global operators. His initial goal is to complete work on the "family" of Airbus aircraft.
