GE produces the high-pressure compressor, combustor, and high-pressure turbine, Snecma manufactures the fan, gearbox, exhaust and the low-pressure turbine.
Our first two installments detailed Honeywell’s presence on 14 categories of business aircraft, ranging from super-large corporate airliners in Part I all the way to single-engine turboprops in Part II. We based our categories on the FlightGlobal “Pocket Guide” (which never has fit in my pocket…maybe they mean “pocket of my carry-on bag”).
We turn now to the decidedly non-pocket-size airliners to see what sort of equipment Honeywell provides in terms of both mechanical and avionics systems.
We’ll go alphabetically and in general order of size, starting with Airbus®.
- Airbus® A320
The A320 family was developed to compete with the 737 “Classics” and then-McDonnell Douglas MD-80/90s. Nowadays we refer to the A320ceo (“current engine option”) and A320neo ("new engine option") models—as with other Airbus aircraft. On the mechanical side, Honeywell supplies auxiliary power units (APUs), air and thermal systems and heat exchangers. For electronics, we provide inertial navigation with the air data inertial reference system (ADIRS) and air data modules (ADMs).
As we’ll see, a great variety of airline-selectable equipment — satellite communications (SATCOM), collision avoidance (TCAS), data link, enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS), flight management systems (FMS), weather radar, among other systems — is also found on the A320.