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Airbus A340 and A330
For maximum efficiency, the innovative Airbus consortium developed its large-capacity A340 and A330 jetliners concurrently, utilizing the same wings, airframe and cockpit. This comprehensive, illustrated history of the two jetliners and their intertwined development encompasses the birth of the projects, design and certification, construction and anatomy, and operational histories. All variants of each are covered, and exclusive color photography depicts the aircraft in production, cockpits and interiors, and in-flight images around the globe showing a rich variety of liveries.
- GenresAviation
120 pages, Paperback
First published November 14, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 28, 2013
An Excellent Introduction to Airbus's New Family of Aircraft
Airbus entered the world of commercial airliners with its A300, which set the standard for the twin-engine widebody. Then came the A310, a highly versatile aircraft, but two aircraft hardly make a family. It was with the smaller A320 series that Airbus established itself as a major player as a builder of commercial airplanes. Building on the success of having a family of jetliners, Airbus introduced the A330 and A340 widebody aircraft. And this book does a fine job in chronicling the development of both types, including the newer A340-500 and A340-600. The book discusses the ideas, concepts, and needs of the world's airlines that led to the birth of the new family of jetliners, continuing with the development of suitable powerplants and the logistics in building these huge planes, using components from a host of countries around the world. The following two chapters discuss the first flight and testing of the A340 and A330, respectively, even covering how Airbus met various challenges along the way. The final two chapters cover the later variants of both aircraft, namely the A330-200 and the A340-500 and -600, again reviewing construction and design details of the three types. The only variant not to be included is the A330-200 freighter, which arrived after the book was published.
The level of detail in covering these aircraft exceeded my expectations. Guy Norris and Mark Wagner have, in the past, been associated with picture books of older aircraft types - mainly propliners - that featured outstanding photography but basic information on the subjects in the photos. This book uses mostly stock photos from the Airbus archives but includes detailed descriptions, the opposite of these authors' previous titles, one might say. (The authors have previously produced a decent, though not very detailed, book on the Airbus family.) The only consumer airliner books that offer greater detail are the AirlinerTech series; one has been published for the A340, but no such book exists for its twin-engine cousin. Besides, AirlinerTech books, now long out of print, usually command very high prices on the used book market. So, short of Airbus technical manuals, this book is about as detailed as one will find, and for most readers it should suffice. My only complaint is that there are no photographs showing the interior and cabin arrangements, a shortcoming common among this genre.
Appendices at the end of the book offer technical details in table format, along with a production list current through 2001. Overall, this book has been a nice surprise and am happy I bought it.
Airbus entered the world of commercial airliners with its A300, which set the standard for the twin-engine widebody. Then came the A310, a highly versatile aircraft, but two aircraft hardly make a family. It was with the smaller A320 series that Airbus established itself as a major player as a builder of commercial airplanes. Building on the success of having a family of jetliners, Airbus introduced the A330 and A340 widebody aircraft. And this book does a fine job in chronicling the development of both types, including the newer A340-500 and A340-600. The book discusses the ideas, concepts, and needs of the world's airlines that led to the birth of the new family of jetliners, continuing with the development of suitable powerplants and the logistics in building these huge planes, using components from a host of countries around the world. The following two chapters discuss the first flight and testing of the A340 and A330, respectively, even covering how Airbus met various challenges along the way. The final two chapters cover the later variants of both aircraft, namely the A330-200 and the A340-500 and -600, again reviewing construction and design details of the three types. The only variant not to be included is the A330-200 freighter, which arrived after the book was published.
The level of detail in covering these aircraft exceeded my expectations. Guy Norris and Mark Wagner have, in the past, been associated with picture books of older aircraft types - mainly propliners - that featured outstanding photography but basic information on the subjects in the photos. This book uses mostly stock photos from the Airbus archives but includes detailed descriptions, the opposite of these authors' previous titles, one might say. (The authors have previously produced a decent, though not very detailed, book on the Airbus family.) The only consumer airliner books that offer greater detail are the AirlinerTech series; one has been published for the A340, but no such book exists for its twin-engine cousin. Besides, AirlinerTech books, now long out of print, usually command very high prices on the used book market. So, short of Airbus technical manuals, this book is about as detailed as one will find, and for most readers it should suffice. My only complaint is that there are no photographs showing the interior and cabin arrangements, a shortcoming common among this genre.
Appendices at the end of the book offer technical details in table format, along with a production list current through 2001. Overall, this book has been a nice surprise and am happy I bought it.
August 31, 2016
I definitely enjoyed reading about the Airbus a330 and a340.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews