Airbus' Bernard Ziegler Passes Away At The Age of 88

Bernard Ziegler sat in the cockpit of an Airbus aircraft. Photo Credit: Airbus

It is with deep regret that we announce that Bernard Ziegler, who was well-known for the innovative fly-by-wire technology at Airbus, passed away yesterday at the age of 88.

Ziegler was instrumental for this technology which included the use of side-stick controls, first seen on the Airbus A320 when it commenced its first flight back in 1988.

His career at the company began in 1972 when he became the chief test pilot and was tasked with setting up a new division for flight testing, notably flying the first flight of the A300 that same year.

As well as the A300, Ziegler also flew the A310, A320, and A340-200, and was one of the pilots who flew around the world with the A340-8000 from Paris in just one stop in Auckland, spanning 48 hours total flight time. 

He retired from Airbus in 1997 in the role of Senior Vice President of Engineering. Such a stellar 25-year career resulted in a lot of innovative success for the company many years after his retirement.

Nowadays, we see fly-by-wire in the entirety of Airbus aircraft currently on the market, starting from the A318neo, all the way up to the A400M Atlas. 

Out of the many thousands of aircraft, Airbus has sold over the last 20-25 years, Ziegler's innovation remains the same and upgraded on each delivery made. 

His efforts in advancing fly-by-wire resulted in him being honored by the Flight Safety Foundation in 1998, with the feature considered to be highly beneficial in avoiding unusual altitudes in flight and in safely maximizing the effectiveness of evasive maneuvers in response to the well known GPWS warnings. 

On behalf of the team at RadarBox, we would like to pass our condolences to Mr. Ziegler's family for their loss, but they should know that he was instrumental in developing a level of safety and unique flying which advanced this industry to where it is today.