Offbeat Airbus A320 acceleration and cruising speed

[Rolf]

Gents I downloaded an acceleration and top speed app called Speed Logic Light on my phone and for interest sakes I tested it out when flying a number of business trips on the Airbus A320 planes for checking the acceleration of the plane from 0-200kmh and up to 1/2 mile as well as highest cruising speed attained on a 2hr flight recently.

As can be seen the A320 acceleration from standstill when the pilot gives it full throttle initially is not that quick taking about 7.7sec to 100kmh, which is the same time as a 174PS Golf III VR6. It starts pulling well at higher speeds and gets to 200kmh in about 18.7sec which is about the same time as a 300PS Golf 7 R. The 1/2 mile speed is impressive at 22.2sec at 230kmh.

The take off speed is about 290 to 300kmh and the highest speed so far I have seen in a A320 is 854.9kmh. (531.2mph).

Another interesting stat is the noise level at cruising speeds as per my mobile app is about 85 to 87dBA.

 

[LaArtist]

Love this

There are some factors that play a role
In all those numbers as you probably know If not let me know and Ile
Try to explain.

It’s never as easy as full throttle

 

[Rolf]

Love this

There are some factors that play a role
In all those numbers as you probably know If not let me know and Ile
Try to explain.

It’s never as easy as full throttle

In the last 3 weeks I have been on 4 trips on a A320 and recorded some acceleration and cruising speed runs and the one I posted above is the quickest I measured with my app. Maybe the weather conditions were also favorable as it was a night trip and the temperature was cooler with less wind. The acceleration runs all depend on the pilot applying the force on the throttle, if its gradual or just full throttle at first.

This is the first acceleration I measured with my app on one trip on an A320 on 26 July at 6.37pm, when it was warmer and more windier. Its noticeably slower than the above posted results from the last trip

 

[klier]

That's a disturbing font you're using on your phone, LOL

 

[Karabiner98k]

The plane seems slow but has great top end power!

 

[LaArtist]

The plane seems slow but has great top end power!

Inertia my friend

 

[Rolf]

The plane seems slow but has great top end power!

It has about 70tons of max take off weight to deal with when moving from rest, so expect the initial acceleration to be sluggish.

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Nice things to observe and record in theory Rolf, but virtually impossible to draw any conclusions from due to sooo many variables of which you're not privy to.

 

[Rolf]

Nice things to observe and record in theory Rolf, but virtually impossible to draw any conclusions from due to sooo many variables of which you're not privy to.

Yeah you correct, with aeronautics there are many details and variables to consider. I am not an expert in this field, but I certainly would like to learn the technical info on the different aircrafts and how they fly.

 

[Betty Swollocks]

Yeah you correct, with aeronautics there are many details and variables to consider. I am not an expert in this field, but I certainly would like to learn the technical info on the different aircrafts and how they fly.

Artist is the expert here, but one factor alone which makes the data unreliable is that pilots rarely use full power on take off. On the Airbus, for example, pilots use a "Flex temp" calculation in order to reduce engine wear and noise.

Flex temp - Wikipedia

Certainly, the airports I imagine you fly in and out of will require a power setting closer to full throttle than not. Doha (hot), and Jo'burg (hot and high) means the V1 and VR speeds will be at the upper ends of the scale, and therefore the pilots need to reach them before they run out of runway.

One route I've flown quite often is London City airport to New York JFK on British Airways using an Airbus A318. Even though it stops in Shannon in Ireland to refuel about one hour after leaving London, the aircraft still needs full throttle in order to get airborne off the short runway, the pilots holding it on the brakes for around ten seconds while the engines spool up. I'd like to see your app on that flight.

 

[DeDe]

Nice little app btw.

I did an acceleration run with my 2002 Clio, I was 0.07 sec (and -1 metre) quicker at 0-100 km/h than four years ago. No, I won't post the actual number.

 

[Giannis]

Nice little app btw.

I did an acceleration run with my 2002 Clio, I was 0.07 sec (and -1 metre) quicker at 0-100 km/h than four years ago. No, I won't post the actual number.

Nice. For my Clio the most appropriate performance measuring device is the calendar, not a mobile phone app.

"D