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From: "Ron Galbraith" <cfi@instructor.net>
Subject: A320 in the ATC system

This post has nothing to do with Lancair, but several have mentioned the Ai=
rbus, so I thought I'd share my thoughts about it from an ATC standpoint.
The airbus A320 is one of the worst airplanes out there as far as ATC goes.=
  I know the pilots that fly them think they are great, and don't understan=
d this thinking.  This airplane has been involved in a majority of the syst=
em errors that we have in the ATC system.  The fact is that this airplane j=
ust flies different than the rest of the fleet.  The autopilot system is de=
signed for passenger comfort, and the rate of turn, the speed in which the =
aircraft starts turning, and stops turning, and above FL360 it's a dog in t=
he climb.  Many times I've had an A320 ask for FL390, and the computer is t=
elling the pilot they can make it in say 3 minutes, but changes it's mind 6=
 minutes later and the airplane just can't make it to that altitude yet.  W=
hen we say turn 30 degrees left for traffic, that's what we want to happen.=
  When the A320 drivers don't just turn the airplane manually, and just dia=
l in the heading and let the autopilot do the turning, he Airbus might have=
 to think about it for a while (I've seen it as much as a minute before a t=
urn is started), then slowly start a very shallow turn, all the while the o=
ther aircraft is getting closer and closer at a rate of maybe 1000Kts.  As =
air traffic controllers, we have all been burned with the A320, and have le=
arned over time to treat them differently than any other airplane.  Oh, the=
 radios are some of the worst too.   You might ask what the best airplane i=
s for us to work with in the enroute ATC system.  Well, now that would be t=
he Citation X (C750).

Ron Galbraith
LNCE - N5ES