Old Dog, New Tricks
An Airbus A330.
May 10, 2025
AFTER SEVENTEEN YEARS of flying the Boeing 757 and 767 — plus several earlier years on an assortment of other types — I’ve switched over to the Airbus.
The transition wasn’t easy, entailing more than a month of study and simulators, with a series of tests and evaluations along the way. For those of you who buy into the old “jetliners just fly themselves” mantra, five weeks of A330 training might change your mind.
You may already know that Boeing and Airbus operate quite differently, each with its own platform of control, automation, and flight management. You’ll be expecting me to expound on the challenges of learning to use a side-stick control rather than a yoke, for instance, and understanding the Airbus’s unique “flight control laws,” and so on. As it happens, I don’t have much to say on those things. Stick versus wheel… sure, it’s different, but the adjustment is quick.
What you might be surprised to hear me say, however, is that I find the Airbus a less sophisticated machine than the Boeings I’d been flying, even though its baseline technology is newer (early 1980s versus late 1980s). Conventional wisdom holds the Airbus in higher technological esteem, but to me the pilot-machine interface a more cumbersome one. Things that took one or two button-pushes in the Boeing might take four in the Airbus, and there were several moments during training that began with, “What do you mean it can’t….”
This by no means makes the plane less safe. The things I’m talking about are stylistic, idiosyncratic. There’s a grace that’s missing. If Boeing is Apple, Airbus is most certainly Microsoft. They both get the job done safely, but one has more style.
Among the A330’s attributes, none is more impressive than its ability to take off and land at remarkably low speeds. It owes this to a huge and beautifully sculpted wing (its span is broader than a 747’s) that is able to excel both at high-speed efficiency and low-speed docility. At typical weights, the jet is off the ground by 150 knots and touching down at 135 or so. For a plane of its size that’s amazing.
Neither is it bad looking. I’m always bemoaning the bland aesthetics modern jetliners, but I have to say, the A330 is a sexy exception, the -900 variant especially.
But truth be told, so much of what enamors pilots to their planes is creature comfort. And on that count, I’ll take the Airbus over the 757/767 any day. The cockpit is roomy and quiet. There’s a downstairs bunk room to rest in on long-haul flights, and instead of a clunky control wheel in front of me, I’ve got a table to write on.
I expect I’ll grow to like it.
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Upper photo by the author.
Cockpit photo courtesy of Andres Dallimonti and Unsplash.
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2 Responses to “Old Dog, New Tricks”
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Very happy to hear this, Patrick. You have got to like your work tools — work is hard enough as it is at times.
After hearing your initial thoughts a few weeks back I was a bit worried. But seems you’re growing into it.
As a pax I always loved the cozy 767 and the 757 has always been a real looker. But the A330 is comfortable (its 2-4-2 Y beats this ever more popular 3-3-3 any day) and indeed it still looks sleek in spite of its considerable age by now. Like you, I’ve always loved the A330 wing (it’ll take me some more time to start liking those neo winglets though).
Will you be doing both the 332/3 and 339? By comparison, does the 332 feel more like a rocket? And, any urge to also get into the 359 game?
Best of luck to you, Sir. May you enjoy many pleasant and safe hours piloting the A330 for your pax. Still looking forward to the day you are up there in the front office when I’m hitching a ride.
Congratulations Patrick. After doing the training for the A330 are you licensed to fly all the basic versions: -200; -300 and -900(neo)? In the future if you ever wanted to fly the A350, how long is a typical training period for that aircraft now that you are qualified on the A330? Enjoy your new “ride.”