bagold

I was trying to identify the difference between the A319 and A320 planes. I think the A319 is slightly shorter but by not much??? Is there any easy way to tell when seeing it from the outside?

CTANK

Indeed the A319 are shorter than the A320's. The best way for quick identification is to become familar with their lengths, as that helps me diferentiate between the 3 A320 family aircraft.

seawolf

I don't think you can tell unless you judge distance accurately. A320 is basically a stretched A319.

However, looking at the seat map, the A319 has a overwing emergency exit on each side while the A320 has two overwing emergency exists on each side.

chexfan

W/o having the ability to compare size against another aircraft, this is the only way which I can remember. The 320 has two emergency exits and the 319 has 1.

I'm not too sure about the 321 which UA will be inheriting from US though.

meFIRST

All I know is that the A320 (meFIRST's mid haul aircraft of choice) has 6 faboulous leather first class seats, vs 4 cloth ones.

A320 has on board video too.

Awsome.

Clement Lowe

The A321 has 4 exits on each side a la the B777, 1 forward, 1 just forward of the wing, 1 just aft of wing and 1 at very back.

The comments on overwing exits for 319's and 320's are correct.

Hope this is useful.

biggs

I'm flying an A321 on Thursday. I'll let you know how it is-hopefully from FC.

geo1004

[*] A-319 - one exit door over wing[*] A-320 - two exit doors over wing[*] A-321 - one exit door in front and one just aft of wing.

Do UA's 319's really have just ONE row of FC seats? I'd always thought two...

Kurt

If you can see the tail number they go like this:

A-320: N4XXUA

A-319: N8XXUA

The 1 vs 2 overwing exits is probably easier to spot though. Eight vs. 12 seats in F is another.

BTW, Seawolf, the 319 is a SHORTENED 320, not the other way around. The 320 was the "base" or first aircraft in the series so newer versions are derived from it. There is also a really stubby 318 but those haven't shown up in the states yet.

Mark Rogers

Some other differences between the A319 and the A320, besides being 11 feet shorter:

The A319 has a simplified cargo smoke panel. The A320 has the ability to discharge fire extinguishing agent into a cargo hold after a fire is detected, then discharge a slower metering of agent 1 hour later to keep the fire suppressed in the event of a long diversion (2 bottles total). The A319 has a single fire suppression bottle for both cargo compartments (1 bottle). Otherwise, the cockpit is basically identical.

The A319 does not have any forward center of gravity special procedures. The A319 also does not have automatic alpha floor protection (stall protection) with flaps greater than 1 while single engine.

--Mark Rogers

(Probably not what he wanted to know, but I was just answering the title of the post)

webase

Two rows in the 319, 3 rows in the 320.

I was on a British Midland A321, and (from the inside) it really felt like a 757 in terms of length.



[This message has been edited by webase (edited 03-06-2001).]

bagold

Thanks for all the responses! Looking from the outside, I will remember the exit door markings! Seems like the easiest.

biggs

I was on a US A321 yesterday, the aircraft was in service for 3 weeks. The standard grey US leather Airbus seats in first, 26 seats in all. No phones installed yet it was so new. Entry through the front, unlike the 757 but the length appears the same. Overhead bins and configuration like the 319 and 320s. Nice flight after a long day.

Indurain

Intereseting info Mark Rogers!

Do you have any info on the Boeing narrow bodies vis-a-vis the Airbus?

Is the fire suppression system unique to the Airbus? (The MD-80 series doesn't seem to have anything like that)

For the auto alpha floor protection, why is it not on the A319? Is it that the aircraft still has excess power even while single engine, reducing the likelihood of stall? Also, is the auto stall protection one of the benefits of having a full fly-by-wire system not seen on Boeing aircraft?