An Airbus A320, with 113 people on board, was cruising at FL350 when the crew was informed by airport authorities on the ground, that there was a luggage irregularity. They didn’t know how, but a piece of luggage was able to get onboard the aircraft without its owner. Jet fighter aircraft were sent to accompany the aircraft back to its airport of origin where it landed safely about 25 minutes later. The aircraft was searched but no explosives were found.
The first thing to know about the A320neo is that the ‘neo’ means, new engine option. The engines are more efficient on the A320neo, but that’s not the only thing that’s different. The plane is lighter and has aerodynamic improvements. It has larger curved winglets and bigger overhead storage bins. It also has nine more seats on the aircraft than the current A320 which means that the A320neo consumes 20% less fuel per seat.
Of course, Airbus is also building the A319neo, which has four more seats and the A321neo, which has twenty more seats than the current version. The maiden flight for A320neo was on September 25th 2014 in Toulouse, France, but Airbus started the planning for this plane in 2006 as an enhanced version of A320. They planned improvements to the engines and other parts of the plane. They created new winglets, now called ‘sharklets’, which they started to use in 2012.
The most obvious change to the cabin is the larger overhead storage bins for passengers and (optionally) the ability to change the colour of the cabin lighting. There are also improvements to the air purification system, and weight reductions in the galley.
So far, Airbus has more than 3,000 orders for the aircraft and it might become their best selling aircraft ever. The company hopes to deliver over 4,000 A320neos over 15 years and it is already the fastest selling commercial plane in history.
Exercise
To practice your speaking, you should try to talk about the new A320neo for between 60 – 90 seconds. Record yourself speaking and listen to it. Can you hear any simple mistakes that you know are incorrect? Try recording it again, did you improve your speaking the 2nd time?
This week’s video is about the maiden flight of the A320neo which took place recently in France. But how much do you know about the A320neo? Try to find out as much information as you can from around the internet and come back on Monday to read a short text about it.
A “new” leader in single-aisle efficiency took to the skies for the first time on 25 September 2014 with the maiden flight of Airbus’ A320neo (new engine option) jetliner. Step “on-board” the no. 1 NEO aircraft with flight test crew and experience the sights and sounds of this historic day in Airbus’ “best of” video.
A Boeing 737-800, with 111 people on board, began its preparations for takeoff as normal. While it was climbing out of its airport of origin the crew stopped the climb after reaching FL100 because there was leaking water on the cabin floor. The passengers reported this to the flight attendants and the pilots decided to return to their airport of origin as a precaution.
