[FormerACLUmember]

I seem the recall that the Airbus is significantly less safe than Boeing jets, even more if you exclude the 9/11/01 four jets lost to islamists.

Is this true?

[xjcsa]

I seem the recall that the Airbus is significantly less safe than Boeing jets, even more if you exclude the 9/11/01 four jets lost to islamists.

Is this true?

I believe this is the first major crash involving an Airbus 330 in commercial use.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I think it’s different b/c the airbus is electrical. Is that right?

[Jeff Chandler]

I heard that the Airbus is a fine aircraft.

[traumer]

The Airbus(es) are very safe planes.

[omega4179]

On the surface yes, but I did some research and a large number of A319/320 accidents where pilot errors.

[Blood of Tyrants]

No, I don’t think so. All the planes built since the early 80’s are fly-by-wire (electronic signals to servos) and are subject to electronic interference and a lightning strike is one heck of an interference.

[Wiseghy]

Previous threads indicated a problem with “tail separation”
in AB aircraft in response to severe stress loads.

Also, others hinted about composite contruction vs. metal when it comes to lighting strike resistance.

However, nearly everyone admits that this is first accident with this series of AB aircraft.

[matthew fuller]

"Is this true?"

I heard tonite on Fox News that this particular model Airbus has had a perfect record until now.

[americanophile]

They’re crappy planes - noisy and uncomfortable, and their fly-by-wire control systems are notorious.

[cardinal4]

I seem the recall that the Airbus is significantly less safe than Boeing jets, even more if you exclude the 9/11/01 four jets lost to islamists.

No, it is not true.

[2CAVTrooper]

“I seem the recall that the Airbus is significantly less safe than Boeing jets, even more if you exclude the 9/11/01 four jets lost to islamists.

Is this true?”

This is false. Contrary to what the resident Boeing cheerleaders on here say, Airbus has had fewer fatal crashes than Boeing.

Roughly a year ago, I pointed this out during the tanker debate.

Go here and look for yourself:
http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_manu.cgi?manu=Boeing

http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_manu.cgi?manu=Airbus

Here is a breakdown of the number of fatal crashes by model number (including sub-variants) since 1983 (1983 was first recorded fatal crash of an Airbus)

Boeing
707: 14 fatal crashes
727: 20 fatal crashes
737: 65 fatal crashes
747: 18 fatal crashes
757: 7 fatal crashes
767: 6 fatal crashes
777: 0 fatal crashes

Airbus
A300: 6 fatal crashes
A310: 6 fatal crashes
A320: 7 fatal crashes
A330: 2 fatal crashes (includes Air France flt 447)
A340: 0 fatal crashes

These include accidental shootdowns (KAL 007, Iran Air 655), acts of terrorism (Pan Am 103, etc) weather, equipment failures, etc.

The A330 BTW is the direct competition to the Boeing 767 and 777