Airbus A300

Origins , Nord Aviation, and Breguet Aviation proposed the 260-seat wide-body HBN 100 with a similar configuration During the 1960s, European aircraft manufacturers such as Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation, based in the UK, and Sud Aviation of France, had ambitions to build a new 200-seat airliner for the growing civil aviation market. While studies were performed and considered, such as a stretched twin-engine variant of the Hawker Siddeley Trident and an expanded development of the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) One-Eleven, designated the BAC Two-Eleven, it was recognized that if each of the European manufacturers were to launch similar aircraft into the market at the same time, neither would achieve sales volume needed to make them viable. In 1965, a British government study, known as the Plowden Report, had found British aircraft production costs to be between 10% and 20% higher than American counterparts due to shorter production runs, which was in part due to the fractured European market. To overcome this factor, the report recommended the pursuit of multinational collaborative projects between the region's leading aircraft manufacturers. European manufacturers were keen to explore prospective programmes; the proposed 260-seat wide-body HBN 100 between Hawker Siddeley, Nord Aviation, and Breguet Aviation being one such example. National governments were also keen to support such efforts amid a belief that American manufacturers could dominate the European Economic Community; in particular, Germany had ambitions for a multinational airliner project to invigorate its aircraft industry, which had declined considerably following the Second World War. In July 1967, during a high-profile meeting between French, German, and British ministers, an agreement was made for greater cooperation between European nations in the field of aviation technology, and "for the joint development and production of an airbus". Workshare and redefinition On 26 September 1967, the French, West German and British governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding to start the development of the 300-seat Airbus A300. At this point, the A300 was only the second major joint aircraft programme in Europe, the first being the Anglo-French Concorde. Under the terms of the memorandum, the French and British were to each receive a 37.5 per cent work share on the project, while the West Germans would receive a 25 per cent share. Sud Aviation was recognized as the lead contractor for the A300, with Hawker Siddeley being selected as the British partner company. The programme cost was US$4.6 billion (in 1993 dollars, equivalent to $ in ). containers below. This is part of the first A300 prototype, F-OCAZ, on display at Deutsches Museum in Munich. In December 1968, the French and British partner companies (Sud Aviation and Hawker Siddeley) proposed a revised configuration, the 250-seat Airbus A250. It had been feared that the original 300-seat proposal was too large for the market, thus it had been scaled down to produce the A250. The dimensional changes involved in the shrink reduced the length of the fuselage by and the diameter by , reducing the overall weight by . For increased flexibility, the cabin floor was raised so that standard LD3 freight containers could be accommodated side-by-side, allowing more cargo to be carried. Refinements made by Hawker Siddeley to the wing's design provided for greater lift and overall performance; this gave the aircraft the ability to climb faster and attain a level cruising altitude sooner than any other passenger aircraft. This maiden flight, which was performed a month ahead of schedule, lasted for one hour and 25 minutes; the captain was Max Fischl and the first officer was Bernard Ziegler, son of Henri Ziegler. On 5 February 1973, the second prototype performed its maiden flight. Entry into service On 15 March 1974, type certificates were granted for the A300 from both German and French authorities, clearing the way for its entry into revenue service. On 23 May 1974, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification was received. The first production model, the A300B2, entered service in 1974, followed by the A300B4 one year later. Initially, the success of the consortium was poor, in part due to the economic consequences of the 1973 oil crisis, but by 1979 there were 81 A300 passenger liners in service with 14 airlines, alongside 133 firm orders and 88 options. Ten years after the official launch of the A300, the company had achieved a 26 per cent market share in terms of dollar value, enabling Airbus to proceed with the development of its second aircraft, the Airbus A310. == Design ==

aircraft with twin underwing turbofans and a conventional tail The Airbus A300 is a wide-body medium-to-long range airliner; it has the distinction of being the first twin-engine wide-body aircraft in the world. The A300 is powered by a pair of underwing turbofan engines, either General Electric CF6 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines; the sole use of underwing engine pods allowed for any suitable turbofan engine to be more readily used. Additional composites were also made use of, such as carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP), as well as their presence in an increasing proportion of the aircraft's components, including the spoilers, rudder, air brakes, and landing gear doors. Another feature of later aircraft was the addition of wingtip fences, which improved aerodynamic performance and thus reduced cruise fuel consumption by about 1.5% for the A300-600. In addition to passenger duties, the A300 became widely used by air freight operators; according to Airbus, it is the best-selling freight aircraft of all time. Various variants of the A300 were built to meet customer demands, often for diverse roles such as aerial refueling tankers, freighter models (new-build and conversions), combi aircraft, military airlifter, and VIP transport. Perhaps the most visually unique of the variants is the A300-600ST Beluga, an oversized cargo-carrying model operated by Airbus to carry aircraft sections between their manufacturing facilities. The A300 was the basis for, and retained a high level of commonality with, the second airliner produced by Airbus, the smaller Airbus A310. == Operational history ==

introduced the A300 on 23 May 1974 On 23 May 1974, the first A300 entered commercial service, operating the type’s inaugural revenue flight for Air France between Paris and London. Eager to secure its first major U.S. customer, Airbus agreed to additional concessions, including loan guarantees backed by European governments and compensation for the difference between the A300’s operating costs and those of a smaller 170-seat aircraft that Eastern had originally preferred. Following the trial and subsequent negotiations, Eastern placed an order for 23 A300s, becoming the first U.S. airline customer for the type and marking a major breakthrough for Airbus in the American market. This enabled Airbus to market the A300 as a transatlantic airliner. Sales were further supported by rising oil prices, which tripled between 1978 and 1981, and the A300’s substantially lower fuel consumption compared with the tri- and quad-jet aircraft then in service. Airbus A300 with the Forward Facing Crew Cockpit that was operated only by two-people, the first wide-body aircraft with this capabilityBy 1981, Airbus had grown rapidly, with more than 400 aircraft sold to over forty airlines. In 1982, Airbus introduced the Forward-Facing Crew Cockpit (FFCC) concept, making the A300 the world’s first wide-body aircraft certified for operation by a two-person flight crew, further improving operating economics. In 1984, the A300-600 entered service. Building on the FFCC concept, the new variant featured a two-crew cockpit and a number of refinements that improved efficiency, increased passenger capacity, reduced production costs, and enabled certification for 180-minute ETOPS. , was delivered to FedEx Express, the largest operator as of May 2022 with 65 aircraft still in service By the 1990s, the A300 was being heavily promoted as a cargo freighter, with particular interest in the secondhand market for conversion to freighters. Freighter variants—either new-build A300-600s or converted ex-passenger A300s—account for most of the world's freighter fleet after the Boeing 747 freighter. The largest freight operator of the A300 is FedEx Express, which had 70 aircraft in service as of September 2022, while UPS Airlines operates 52 A300 freighters. Despite its early challenges, the A300 family ultimately achieved commercial success, with a total of 561 aircraft delivered. making them the first Airbus aircraft types to be discontinued. The final production A300 was delivered to FedEx Express on 12 July 2007. Airbus subsequently announced a support package to keep A300s in commercial service and positioned the A330-200F freighter as a replacement for the A300 cargo variants. The service life of UPS Airlines’ fleet of 52 A300s, delivered between 2000 and 2006, is being extended to 2035 through a flight deck modernization program based on Honeywell Primus Epic avionics. The upgrade includes new cockpit displays and a flight management system, improved weather radar, a central maintenance system, and an updated enhanced ground proximity warning system. As of July 2017, 211 A300s remained in service with 22 operators worldwide, with FedEx Express the largest operator, flying 68 A300-600F aircraft. == Variants ==

A300B1 The A300B1 was the first variant to take flight. It had a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of , was long and was powered by two General Electric CF6-50A engines. A300B2 A300B2-100 Responding to a need for more seats from Air France, Airbus decided that the first production variant should be larger than the original prototype A300B1. The CF6-50A powered A300B2-100 was longer than the A300B1 and had an increased MTOW of , allowing for 30 additional seats and bringing the typical passenger count up to 281, with capacity for 20 LD3 containers. The variant had an increased MTOW of and was powered by CF6-50C engines, was certified on 23 June 1976, and entered service with South African Airways in November 1976. The variant made its first flight on 8 July 1983, was certified on 9 March 1984, and entered service in June 1984 with Saudi Arabian Airlines. A total of 313 A300-600s (all versions) have been sold. The A300-600 uses the A310's glass cockpits, featuring digital technology and electronic displays, eliminating the need for a flight engineer. The FAA issues a single type rating which allows operation of both the A310 and A300-600. • A300-600: (Official designation: A300B4-600) The baseline model of the −600 series. • A300-620C: (Official designation: A300C4-620) A convertible-freighter version. Four delivered between 1984 and 1985. • A300-600F: (Official designation: A300F4-600) The freighter version of the baseline −600. • A300-600R: (Official designation: A300B4-600R) The increased-range −600, achieved by an additional trim fuel tank in the tail. First delivery in 1988 to American Airlines (would later crash as Flight 587); all A300s built after 1989 are −600Rs. Japan Air System (later merged into Japan Airlines) took delivery of the last newly-built -600R in November 2002. • A300-600RC: (Official designation: A300C4-600R) The convertible-freighter version of the −600R. Two were delivered in 1999. • A300-600RF: (Official designation: A300F4-600R) The freighter version of the −600R. All A300s delivered between November 2002 and 12 July 2007 (final A300 delivery) were -600RFs. A300B10 (A310) , shorter, was introduced by Swissair in April 1983 Airbus had demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300. On 7 July 1978, the A310 (initially the A300B10) was launched with orders from Swissair and Lufthansa. On 3 April 1982, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight and it received its type certification on 11 March 1983. Keeping the same eight-abreast cross-section, the A310 is shorter than the initial A300 variants, and has a smaller wing, down from . The A310 introduced a two-crew glass cockpit, later adopted for the A300-600 with a common type rating. It was powered by the same GE CF6-80 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D then PW4000 turbofans. It can seat 220 passengers in two classes, or 240 in all-economy, and can fly up to . It has overwing exits between the two main front and rear door pairs. In April 1983, the aircraft entered revenue service with Swissair and competed with the Boeing 767–200, introduced six months before. Its longer range and ETOPS regulations allowed it to be operated on transatlantic flights. Until the last delivery in June 1998, 255 aircraft were produced, as it was succeeded by the larger Airbus A330-200. It has cargo aircraft versions, and was derived into the Airbus A310 MRTT military tanker/transport. A300-600ST is based on the A300 with an oversized cargo hold on top Commonly referred to as the Airbus Beluga or "Airbus Super Transporter", these five airframes are used by Airbus to ferry parts between the company's disparate manufacturing facilities, thus enabling workshare distribution. They replaced the four Aero Spacelines Super Guppys previously used by Airbus. ICAO code: A3ST == Operators ==

, there are 209 A300 family aircraft in commercial service. The five largest operators are FedEx Express (63), UPS Airlines (52), European Air Transport Leipzig (25), Iran Air (8), and Mahan Air (8). Deliveries Data through end of December 2007. == Accidents and incidents ==

As of June 2021, the A300 has been involved in 77 occurrences including 24 hull-loss accidents causing 1133 fatalities, and criminal occurrences and hijackings causing fatalities. Accidents with fatalities • 21 September 1987: At Luxor Airport, Egypt, an Egyptair Airbus A300B4-203, registration SU-BCA, touched down past the runway threshold during a training flight. The right main gear hit the runway lights and the aircraft collided with an antenna and fences. No passengers were on board the plane, but 5 crew members were killed. The aircraft was written off. This was the first fatal accident of an Airbus A300. • 28 September 1992: An A300B4-203, registration AP-BCP, operating PIA Flight 268 crashed during approach, 18km S. of Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport, Nepal. All 12 crew members and all 155 passengers died. • 26 April 1994: China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300B4-622R, registration B-1816, crashed upon losing control during an attempted go-around at Nagoya-Komaki Airport, Japan, killing all 15 crew and 249 of 256 passengers on board. • 26 September 1997: An Airbus A300B4-220, registration PK-GAI, operating Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 collided with hilly terrain on approach to Medan-Polonia International Airport, as the consequence of an air-traffic control error and limited ground visibility due to the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. All 234 persons aboard were killed in Indonesia's deadliest crash to-date. • 16 February 1998: China Airlines Flight 676 an Airbus A300B4-622R, registration B-1814, stalled and impacted a residential area of Taipei during an attempted go around at Taipei-Chiang Kai Shek Airport, Taiwan. All 196 people on board were killed, including Taiwan's central bank president. Six people on the ground were also killed. • 2 February 2000: While being towed to a hangar at Tehran-Mehrabad Airport, an Iran Air Airbus A300B2-203 (EP-IBR) was impacted by an Iranian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport plane that had lost directional control and veered off the runway while attempting to take off. All 8 of the Hercules' occupants were killed and both aircraft were destroyed by fire. • 12 November 2001: An Airbus A300B4-605R, registration N14053, operating American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into Belle Harbor, a neighbourhood in Queens, New York, USA, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport. The vertical stabiliser separated from the aircraft after the rudder was mishandled while encountering wake turbulence created by the Boeing 747 that had immediately preceded 587's own departure. All 260 of the plane's occupants and 5 persons on the ground were killed. It is the second-deadliest accident involving an A300 to date and the second-deadliest aircraft accident in the United States. • 14 April 2010: AeroUnion Flight 302, an A300B4-203F, crashed on a road short of the runway while attempting to land at Monterrey Airport in Mexico. Six people (five crew members and one on the ground) were killed. • 14 August 2013: UPS Flight 1354, an Airbus A300F4-622R, crashed outside the perimeter fence on approach to Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Both crew members died. Non-fatal hull losses • 18 December 1983: Malaysian Airline System Flight 684, an Airbus A300B4 leased from Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), registration OY-KAA, crashed short of the runway at Kuala Lumpur in bad weather while attempting to land on a flight from Singapore. All 247 people aboard escaped unharmed but the aircraft was destroyed in the resulting fire. • 24 April 1993: an Air Inter Airbus A300B2-1C was written off after colliding with a light pole while being pushed back at Montpellier. • 15 November 1993, an Indian Airlines Airbus A300, registered as VT-EDV, crash landed near Tirupati. There were no deaths but the aircraft was written off. • 10 August 1994 – Korean Air Flight 2033 (Airbus A300) from Seoul to Jeju, the flight approached faster than usual to avoid potential windshear. Fifty feet above the runway the co-pilot, who was not flying the aircraft, decided that there was insufficient runway left to land and tried to perform a go-around against the captain's wishes. The aircraft touched down 1,773 meters beyond the runway threshold. The aircraft could not be stopped on the remaining 1,227 meters of runway and overran at a speed of 104 knots. After striking the airport wall and a guard post at 30 knots, the aircraft burst into flames and was incinerated. The cabin crew was credited with safely evacuating all passengers although only half of the aircraft's emergency exits were usable. • 17 October 2001: Pakistan International Airlines flight PK231, registration AP-BCJ, from Islamabad via Peshawar to Dubai veered off the side of the runway after the right hand main landing gear collapsed as it touched down. The aircraft skidded and eventually came to rest in sand 50 meters from the runway. The aircraft sustained damage to its right wing structure and its no. 2 engine, which partly broke off the wing. All 205 passengers and crew survived. • 1 March 2004: Pakistan International Airlines Flight 2002 burst 2 tyres whilst taking off from King Abdulaziz International Airport. Fragments of the tyre were ingested by the engines, this caused the engines to catch fire and an aborted takeoff was performed. Due to the fire substantial damage to the engine and the left wing caused the aircraft to be written off. All 261 passengers and 12 crew survived. • 16 November 2012: an Air Contractors Airbus A300B4-203(F) EI-EAC, operating flight QY6321 on behalf of EAT Leipzig from Leipzig (Germany) to Bratislava (Slovakia), suffered a nose wheel collapse during roll out after landing at Bratislava's M. R. Štefánik Airport. All three crew members survived unharmed, the aircraft was written off. As of December 2017, the aircraft still was parked at a remote area of the airport between runways 13 and 22. • 12 October 2015: An Airbus A300B4-200F Freighter operated by Egyptian Tristar cargo carrier crashed in Mogadishu, Somalia. All the passengers and crew members survived the crash. • 1 October 2016: An Airbus A300-B4 registration PR-STN on a cargo flight between São Paulo-Guarulhos and Recife suffered a runway excursion after landing and the aft gear collapsed upon touchdown. Violent incidents • 27 June 1976: Air France Flight 139, originating in Tel Aviv, Israel and carrying 248 passengers and a crew of 12 took off from Athens, Greece, headed for Paris, France. The flight was hijacked by terrorists, and was eventually flown to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. At the airport, Israeli commandos rescued 102 of the 106 hostages. • 3 February 1984: Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul Flight 302, an Airbus A300B4-203, was hijacked while flying from São Luís to Belém and was forced to divert to Cuba. There were no fatalities among the 176 passengers and crew. • 26 October 1986: Thai Airways Flight 620, an Airbus A300B4-601, originating in Bangkok suffered an explosion mid-flight. The aircraft descended rapidly and was able to land safely at Osaka. The aircraft was later repaired and there were no fatalities. The cause was a hand grenade brought onto the plane by a Japanese gangster of the Yamaguchi-gumi. 109 of the 247 people on board were injured. • 3 July 1988: Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf after being mistaken for an attacking Iranian F-14 Tomcat, killing all 290 passengers and crew, making it the deadliest accident involving an Airbus A300. • 15 February 1991: two Kuwait Airways A300C4-620s and two Boeing 767s that had been seized during Iraq's occupation of Kuwait were destroyed in coalition bombing of Mosul Airport. One of the two involved, 9K-AHG, was hijacked in 1984. • 24 December 1994: Air France Flight 8969 was hijacked at Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers, by four terrorists who belonged to the Armed Islamic Group. The terrorists apparently intended to crash the plane over the Eiffel Tower on Boxing Day. After a failed attempt to leave Marseille following a confrontational firefight between the terrorists and the GIGN French Special Forces, the result was the death of all four terrorists. (Snipers on the terminal front's roof shot dead two of the terrorists. The other two terrorists died as a result of gunshots in the cabin after approximately 20 minutes.) Three hostages including a Vietnamese diplomat were executed in Algiers, 229 hostages survived, many of them wounded by shrapnel. The almost 15-year-old aircraft was written off. • 24 December 1999: Indian Airlines Flight IC 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal, to New Delhi was hijacked. After refuelling and offloading a few passengers, the flight was diverted to Kandahar, Afghanistan. An Indian man was murdered while the plane was in flight. • 22 November 2003: European Air Transport OO-DLL, operating on behalf of DHL Aviation, was hit by an SA-14 'Gremlin' missile after takeoff from Baghdad International Airport. The aeroplane lost hydraulic pressure and thus the controls. After extending the landing gear to create more drag, the crew piloted the plane using differences in engine thrust and landed the plane with minimal further damage. The plane was repaired and offered for sale, but in April 2011 it still remained parked at Baghdad Intl. • 25 August 2011: an A300B4-620 5A-IAY of Afriqiyah Airways and A300B4-622 5A-DLZ of Libyan Arab Airlines were both destroyed in fighting between pro- and anti-Gaddafi forces at Tripoli International Airport. == Aircraft on display ==

Fifteen A300s are currently preserved: • F-BUAD Airbus A300 ZERO-G, since August 2015 preserved at Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany. • F-WUAB The first prototype of the Airbus A300 is Partially preserved with a fuselage section, the right-hand wing, and an engine on display at the Deutsches Museum • ex-HL7219 Korean Air Airbus A300B4 preserved at Korean Air Jeongseok Airfield. • ex-N11984 Continental Airlines Airbus A300B4 preserved in South Korea as a Night Flight Restaurant. • ex TC-ACD and TC-ACE Air ACT, preserved as coffee house at Uçak Cafe in Burhaniye, Turkey. • ex TC-MNJ MNG Airlines, preserved as Köfte Airlines restaurant at Tekirdağ, Turkey. • ex TC-FLA Fly Air, preserved as the Airbus Cafe & Restaurant at Kayseri, Turkey. • ex TC-ACC Air ACT, preserved as the Uçak Kütüphane library and education centre at Çankırı, Turkey. • ex EP-MHA Mahan Air, preserved as instructional airframe at the Botia Mahan Aviation College at Kerman, Iran. • ex TC-FLM Fly Air, preserved as a restaurant at Istanbul, Turkey. • ex B-18585 China Airlines, preserved as the Flight of Happiness restaurant at Taoyuan, Taiwan. • ex-PK-JID Sempati Air Airbus A300B4 repainted in first A300B1 prototype colours, including original F-WUAB registration, became an exhibit in 2014 at the Aeroscopia museum in Blagnac, near Toulouse, France. • ex TC-MCE MNG Airlines, preserved as a restaurant at the Danialand theme park at Agadir, Morocco. • ex HL7240 Korean Air, preserved as instructional airframe (gate guard) at the Korea Aerospace University at Goyang, South Korea. • ex HS-TAM Thai Airways A300-600R, preserved in a field near Doi Saket, Chiang Mai. == Specifications ==

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