File:Airbus A320 glass cockpit - Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - 2012-05-15 (7276905282).jpg

The "glass cockpit" of the Airbus A320, on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Airbus A320 is a short- to medium-range, narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner Development began in 1977, although the project which resulted in the A320 was radically realigned in 1981. The first flight of the A320 occurred on February 22, 1987, and it entered service in 1988.

The A320 was the first civil airliner to include a fully digital fly-by-wire flight control system. Instead of physical cables and hydraulics attached to the pedals and control stick, the pedals, control stick, and other controllers merely send electronic signals via electrical wiring (hence the name "fly-by-wire") to motors, hydraulics, and other machines located closer to the control surfaces in the wing and tail.

The A320 was the first commercial airplane to include a full glass cockpit rather than a hybrid version. The original airline cockpits contained dials, meters, and indicators which used numbers painted on wheels or dials. These indicators moved physically to show an increase or decrease. If they got stuck, a plane could crash. The indicators were physically linked to the instruments and sensors inside and outside the plane. For example, the airspeed indicator was in the nose and physically routed air into the airspeed dial on the instrument panel.

The glass cockpit connected instruments inside and outside the plane via electrical wiring. The instruments turned their observations into electrical signals. These signals were then sent to electric display panels in the cockpit. There were no moving dials or meters any more; numbers, indicators, and information was presented via a monitor (in the late 1980s) or LCD display panel (since 1990).

The flight management computer can actually force the pilot to look at critical information by deciding what data to depict on the LCD panel. Because modern aircraft had hundreds of dials and meters and gauges, it was easy for pilots to be overwhelmed (especially in crisis situations). Now the flight management computer displays only the most critical information.