|
June 14, 2013 - A new chapter has opened in
Airbus’ 43 year history as the first A350 XWB,
the world’s most efficient large twin-engine
commercial aircraft, powered aloft this morning
for its maiden flight at Blagnac in Toulouse,
France at 10 AM local time. Equipped with
Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofans, the A350 XWB
first flight is took place over south western
France.
An international crew of six was on board,
comprising two Flight Test Pilots, one Test
Flight Engineer and three Flight Test Engineers.
At the controls of the A350 XWB’s first flight
were Peter Chandler, Airbus’ Chief Test Pilot,
and Guy Magrin, Project Pilot for the A350 XWB.
Accompanying them in the cockpit was Pascal
Verneau, the A350 XWB Project Test Flight
Engineer. At their flight test stations in the
main aircraft cabin and monitoring the progress
of the flight via an extensive array of flight
test instrumentation were three flight test
engineers: Fernando Alonso, Head of Airbus
Flight & Integration Test Centre; Patrick du Ché,
Head of Development Flight Tests; and Emanuele
Costanzo, lead Flight Test Engineer for the
Trent XWB engine.
This first flight marks the beginning of a test
campaign totaling around 2,500 flight hours with
a fleet of five development aircraft. The
rigorous flight testing will lead to the
certification of the A350-900 variant by the
European EASA and the FAA airworthiness
authorities, prior to entry into service in the
second half of 2014 with first operator Qatar
Airways.
|
|
 |
