Date: 2025-07-02 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00026542
AIRBUS
COCKPIT DESIGN
Coby Explanes: How 40-year-old tech is helping Airbus beat Boeing
COCKPIT DESIGN
Coby Explanes: How 40-year-old tech is helping Airbus beat Boeing
Original article:
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
- 0:00
- Boeing and Airbus dominate commercial
- 0:02
- Aviation the two have a functional
- 0:04
- duopoly controlling 88% of the
- 0:07
- commercial aircraft market and that
- 0:09
- market is huge projected to reach a
- 0:13
- staggering $170 billion by 2030 in order
- 0:17
- to capture as much of that pie as
- 0:20
- possible both sides are constantly
- 0:22
- pushing the technological envelope
- 0:25
- they've poured innumerable resources
- 0:27
- into R&D exploring radical Innovations
- 0:31
- like Space Age materials hydrogen
- 0:33
- propulsion and even folding wings but
- 0:37
- what if I told you that one of the
- 0:38
- biggest competitive differentiators that
- 0:40
- Airbus has has absolutely nothing to do
- 0:43
- with crazy futuristic technology in fact
- 0:47
- this particular competitive Advantage
- 0:49
- has existed for decades and has allowed
- 0:51
- Airbus to win countless deals throughout
- 0:54
- the years so what is it what is airbus's
- 0:58
- not so secret weapon let me
- 1:10
- explain now if you're watching this
- 1:12
- video the day it comes out happy Friday
- 1:14
- I'm sure you're pumped for the weekend
- 1:16
- and hopefully you were excited to see
- 1:18
- this video hit your inbox but me I'm
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- probably not having the best day I put a
- 1:25
- ton of work into these videos so release
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- day is always really stressful in fact I
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- used to actually lose sleep the day
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- before a big release but that's not so
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- much the case anymore I've learned to
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- Let's Do an Experiment
- 2:37
- you exactly what airbus's secret weapon
- 2:39
- is I want to run a little bit of an
- 2:41
- experiment right now I'm sitting in an
- 2:43
- Airbus cockpit and I want you to tell me
- 2:46
- what exact plane I'm in is this an A320
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- A330 a350 or A380 don't worry I'm going
- 2:53
- to give you some close-up views to help
- 2:55
- you figure it
- 2:58
- out
- 3:02
- [Music]
- 3:07
- okay so now that you've taken a look
- 3:09
- around were you able to figure out what
- 3:11
- type of Airbus plane this actually is
- 3:14
- well it turns out it's actually a trick
- 3:16
- question what I just showed you isn't
- 3:18
- the cockpit of a single Airbus aircraft
- 3:21
- it was a mish mash of practically all of
- 3:23
- them but unless you're a seasoned Airbus
- 3:26
- pilot odds are you probably couldn't
- 3:28
- tell the difference and that's entirely
- 3:30
- by Design you see the secret weapon that
- 3:33
- I'm alluding to the one that gives
- 3:34
- Airbus such a big Advantage is cockpit
- 3:37
- commonality now I'm sure that most of
- Airbus Commonality
- 3:39
- you are familiar with this concept it's
- 3:42
- the practice of using the same systems
- 3:45
- interfaces and cockpit layouts across
- 3:48
- different types of aircraft both Boeing
- 3:50
- and Airbus leverage this practice to
- 3:52
- some degree as an example the cockpits
- 3:55
- of the 737 NG and the 737 Max are
- 3:59
- practically the same and that's also
- 4:01
- true for the A320 and A320 Neo but what
- 4:05
- you might not realize is just how far
- 4:08
- Airbus takes this practice and How
- 4:10
- Deeply it permeates their entire
- 4:13
- commercial philosophy their cockpits
- 4:15
- aren't just similar within individual
- 4:17
- families they're similar across the
- 4:19
- entire product lineup from the
- 4:21
- relatively small A320 to the absolutely
- 4:24
- gargantuan A380 okay but just how deep
- 4:28
- do these similarities run are they just
- 4:31
- cosmetic well in order to find out I sat
- 4:34
- down with Yan buils an Airbus
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- experimental test pilot who's currently
- 4:38
- leading flight testing for a350
- 4:40
- development here's what he had to say on
- 4:42
- the subject when you get in a hus
- 4:44
- cockpit the controls they're very much
- 4:47
- uh the same for the pilot it will find
- 4:49
- the exact same sight stick the same
- 4:51
- throttles the flap lever is the same
- 4:53
- speed brakes the main displays looks the
- 4:56
- same like the flight directors
- 4:58
- navigation displayed out weather is
- 5:00
- displayed how the terrain is displayed
- 5:02
- and then what we call the FCU it's where
- 5:05
- you select all the autopilot function
- 5:07
- it's pretty much the same throughout the
- 5:09
- fleet okay so it seems that airbus's
- 5:11
- common cockpit architecture is way more
- 5:14
- than just skin deep and for a pilot in
- 5:16
- Yan's position this makes their life a
- 5:18
- whole lot easier we do a lot of manual
- 5:21
- flying uh fight tests in the morning I
- 5:23
- can fly at 320 in the afternoon at 350
- 5:27
- and after maybe 5 to 10 minutes I just
- 5:29
- forget about the mass behind I mean the
- 5:31
- aircraft endling wise yeah it's pretty
- 5:33
- close but this design philosophy isn't
- 5:36
- just a joy for Pilots it's also a joy
- 5:39
- for Airlines crew training is a massive
- Why Airlines Love It
- 5:42
- burden often costing tens of millions of
- 5:45
- dollars a year and airbus's cockpit
- 5:47
- philosophy helps to ease that burden now
- 5:50
- for some context it usually takes about
- 5:53
- five weeks for a new pilot to earn type
- 5:55
- certification on a commercial jet the
- 5:58
- same is true if a pilot is transitioning
- 6:00
- between aircraft built by different oems
- 6:03
- but if you're transitioning within the
- 6:05
- Airbus family the whole process is far
- 6:08
- smoother when a pilot is transitioning
- 6:10
- the only thing you will have to learn is
- 6:12
- how to manage all the the uh the
- 6:15
- information how to get it uh how to how
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- to organize it so when you're qualified
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- on a 330 or 350 you take an additional
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- course of eight days and and you can be
- 6:27
- both qualified on the on the true
- 6:28
- aircraft uh under the uh the common typ
- 6:30
- rating of course the A330 and the a350
- 6:34
- are pretty similar in size but even if
- 6:36
- you're moving between say the small A320
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- and the giant A380 the process is still
- 6:43
- fairly short this isn't just due to the
- 6:45
- similarity of their cockpits but also
- 6:48
- because of their flyby wire controls on
- 6:51
- our aircraft the pilot sends an
- 6:53
- electrical rather than a mechanical
- 6:55
- signal to the control surfaces and those
- 6:57
- signals can be programmed such that all
- 6:59
- these aircraft handle very very
- 7:01
- similarly so you will see that the
- 7:03
- handling characteristics of a two
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- engined A320 will be very similar to
- 7:08
- those of a seven times heavier 4 engin
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- A380 the upshot is that if you're a
- 7:12
- pilot any Airbus jet will both operate
- 7:15
- and handle in a similar fashion and it
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- means that even if you're moving between
- 7:19
- a small Airbus and a big one it'll only
- 7:22
- demand three additional days of training
- 7:25
- now it's time for the million-dollar
- How Big Are the Savings?
- 7:27
- question how does this actually affect
- 7:29
- an air airline's bottom line well having
- 7:31
- your pilot spend more time in the air
- 7:33
- and less time in the classroom is a
- 7:36
- plain better utilization of resources
- 7:39
- and airba says that commonality alone
- 7:41
- can improve pilot productivity by 2% now
- 7:44
- that might not seem like a lot but
- 7:46
- remember Airlines can spend tens of
- 7:48
- millions of dollars a year on crew
- 7:50
- training alone when put in this context
- 7:53
- 2% savings is massive if however you
- 7:56
- remain unimpressed well that's only
- 7:59
- where the savings start once a pilot has
- 8:02
- gone from 320 to 380 in in the example
- 8:05
- that we just talked about why not let
- 8:07
- the pilot continue flying the 320 the
- 8:10
- aircraft that he was familiar with from
- 8:12
- the start right so that pilot would be
- 8:14
- able to fly both the 320 and the 380 in
- 8:17
- what we call a mixed Fleet flying
- 8:19
- configuration mixed Fleet flying is
- 8:22
- pretty self-explanatory it means that
- 8:24
- Pilots at a given Airline can fly a
- 8:26
- mixed Fleet of aircraft for instance fly
- 8:29
- the a350 and A330 at the same time this
- 8:33
- dramatically improves pilot productivity
- 8:36
- helps Airlines to reduce their total
- 8:38
- number of pilots and improves scheduling
- 8:41
- flexibility and this is the real secret
- 8:44
- sauce at Airlines doing this kind of
- 8:47
- setup going Beyond cross crew
- 8:49
- qualification and getting the extra bit
- 8:51
- from mixed feed flying we can see a
- 8:53
- pilot productivity increase up to 15%
- 8:56
- and we have been able to demonstrate up
- 8:58
- to $8 million per aircraft benefit now
- 9:01
- these savings are obviously huge for
- 9:04
- Airlines when you take $8 million a
- 9:07
- plane and multiply it across a fleet of
- 9:09
- hundreds of planes well those figures
- 9:11
- are substantial and it's really no
- 9:13
- wonder that Airlines like thin air SAS
- 9:16
- Iberia Air Lingus and others have become
- 9:19
- Airbus loyalists each one bought their
- 9:22
- first Airbus jet long ago and here they
- 9:25
- are decades later buying even more to
- 9:28
- help ensure that their cost stay low
- 9:31
- this is obviously a huge win for Airbus
- 9:33
- by creating this ecosystem they've been
- 9:36
- able to lock in these repeat buyers now
- Another Big Benefactor
- 9:40
- these existing Airbus customers are the
- 9:42
- most obvious beneficiaries of cockpit
- 9:45
- commonality but there's an entirely
- 9:48
- different customer segment who might see
- 9:50
- an even bigger gain that would be new
- 9:53
- startup Airlines if you've watched my
- 9:56
- channel before you'll know that starting
- 9:58
- an airline is in incredibly tough
- 10:00
- margins are razor thin and competition
- 10:03
- is brutal in order for these Airlines to
- 10:06
- succeed they have to be very careful in
- 10:09
- how they use their limited resources and
- 10:12
- one such Airline that's currently facing
- 10:14
- this challenge is starlux starx is a new
- 10:17
- Airline out of Taiwan now on the surface
- 10:20
- starx has all the makings of a
- 10:22
- successful Airline they have experienced
- 10:24
- leadership and they've built an
- 10:26
- incredible onboard product but a great
- 10:29
- onboard experience doesn't necessarily
- 10:32
- make for a successful airline in the
- 10:34
- case of starlock they have to overcome a
- 10:37
- pretty significant obstacle Taiwan
- 10:39
- already has two major International
- 10:42
- carriers and the island isn't all that
- 10:44
- big so in order to actually compete with
- 10:47
- these established players starlux needs
- 10:50
- to keep its costs down without
- 10:53
- sacrificing the incredible onboard
- 10:55
- experience that makes them unique in the
- 10:58
- first place so what did the airline do
- 11:01
- well they turned to Airbus starlux flies
- 11:05
- the a321 Neo A330 Neo and the a350 and
- 11:09
- this all Airbus setup has helped them in
- 11:12
- two key ways first off instead of
- 11:15
- spending on excess training starlex can
- 11:17
- use its limited resources on building a
- 11:20
- unique passenger experience on board
- 11:23
- you'll find some pretty cool amenities
- 11:25
- like zerog seats theater style
- 11:27
- entertainment fine dining and even
- 11:30
- onboard facials they've also been able
- 11:32
- to invest in a one-of-a-kind Space Age
- 11:35
- Lounge which they fittingly call the
- 11:37
- galactic Lounge this has helped the
- 11:39
- airline to differentiate itself in a
- 11:41
- crowded market and let me tell you these
- 11:44
- sorts of Investments aren't cheap so
- 11:47
- that money saved in training seems to
- 11:49
- have gone a really long way second it's
- 11:52
- all Airbus fleet has helped it build out
- 11:55
- its Network remember Taiwan is small so
- 11:58
- in order order to grow starlex plans to
- 12:01
- tap into the entire asia-pacific region
- 12:04
- using Taipei as a theater City to
- 12:07
- connect to North America now building
- 12:09
- such a globe spanning Network Demands a
- 12:12
- diverse Fleet of planes and because
- 12:14
- Airbus cockpits are quite similar
- 12:16
- integrating multiple aircraft types at
- 12:18
- once and getting their Crews up to speed
- 12:21
- is much much easier and in turn it
- 12:24
- allows Airlines in Star Lex's position
- 12:27
- to scale and diversify their fleets
- 12:30
- stressfree ultimately this all Airbus
- 12:33
- setup has helped starlux find early
- 12:35
- success not only does the carrier get
- 12:38
- high marks from customers but it's
- 12:40
- actually making money in the first half
- 12:42
- of 2023 the airline posted a net profit
- 12:46
- of over 10 million us at the end of the
- 12:49
- day when new Airlines like starlux can
- 12:51
- succeed and grow well It ultimately
- 12:55
- helps Airbus to lock in loyal customers
- 12:58
- from literally day one and this helps
- 13:01
- with long-term order stability in fact
- 13:03
- this exact thing has already happened
- 13:06
- with starlock at this year Singapore Air
- 13:08
- Show the airline doubled down and
- 13:10
- ordered 13 new Airbus Jets okay so it's
- What About Boeing?
- 13:14
- clear that cockpit commonality is a huge
- 13:17
- Advantage for both Airbus and its
- 13:19
- customers and you might be wondering
- 13:22
- what about Boe do they have anything
- 13:24
- similar and the short answer is kind of
- 13:28
- they do have some some congruency across
- 13:30
- their lineup for instance the 757 767
- 13:34
- and tri 7 cockpits are all quite similar
- 13:37
- but unlike Airbus whose cockpit lineage
- 13:40
- can all be traced back to the A320
- 13:43
- Boeing's lineup has no such Heritage now
- 13:46
- to Boeing's credit things are changing
- 13:49
- their upcoming 7x shares much of its
- 13:52
- cockpit architecture with the 787 and it
- 13:54
- seems that Boeing wants to model their
- 13:56
- future cockpits around the Dreamliner
- 13:59
- but Boeing's most popular plane the 737
- 14:03
- is kind of holding them back the 737s
- 14:06
- basic systems architecture has changed
- 14:08
- little since the' 60s and it's vastly
- 14:11
- different from say the modern 787 until
- 14:15
- Boeing decides to move away from the 737
- 14:18
- family it seems that Airbus will
- 14:20
- continue to have a leg up when it comes
- 14:22
- to cockpit commonality and this distinct
- 14:25
- Advantage should help them to continue
- 14:27
- to win business well into the future so
- Outro
- 14:32
- what do you guys think is cockpit
- 14:34
- commonality airbus's biggest competitive
- 14:36
- advantage or is it something else let me
- 14:38
- know your thoughts in the comment
- 14:40
- section below oh and speaking of Airbus
- 14:42
- cockpits I've had a bunch of you ask me
- 14:44
- to give away more of these Airbus
- 14:46
- cockpit teas I haven't done a giveaway
- 14:48
- in quite some time so how about we do
- 14:50
- one now all you got to do is subscribe
- 14:53
- leave a like and comment down below what
- 14:55
- your favorite Airbus plane is and why
- 14:58
- I'll pick it a few winners based on my
- 15:00
- favorite answers oh and these shirts
- 15:02
- aren't for sale so for now this is the
- 15:05
- only way to get one thank you so much to
- 15:07
- my patrons for helping to make this
- 15:09
- video possible if you like what I do and
- 15:11
- want to help the channel grow go ahead
- 15:12
- and check out this link right here and
- 15:14
- as always if you learn something new
- 15:16
- today leave a like And subscribe to keep
- 15:18
- learning and until I see you again don't
- 15:21
- forget to look
- 15:27
- up