13 July 2013

One month after the First Flight, the A350 XWB has done a total of 15 flights with more than 87 test-hours


The longest test flight was held on 21/June, the day it was shown at Le Bourget Air Show. The flight duration was 8hours and 43 minutes and it was the first time the crew did not wear the parachutes and helmets.



The average time per flight has been 5 hours and 49 minutes.

Flight number
Date
Duration
1st flight
14/June/2013
4h06min
2nd
19/June/2013
5h25min
3rd
21/June/2013
8h43min
4th
25/June/2013
8h07min
5th
26/June/2013
5h27min
6th
27/June/2013
6h14min
7th
04/July/2013
6h54min
8th
05/July/2013
6h31min
9th
06/July/2013
5h52min
10th
08/July/2013
4h35min
11th
09/July/2013
5h52min
12th
10/July/2013
3h23min
13th
10/July/2013
4h55min
14th
11/July/2013
7h08min
15th
12/July/2013
4h08min
total 
87h20min




Airbus is aiming to certificate the A350-900 just over a year from first flight, supported by some 2,500h of flight time. The effort will be accelerated by the decision to use 5 aircraft in the flight-test fleet, and to frontload much of the developmental testing in the operational environment.

Delivery will take place in the second half of 2014, says Flight Test pilot Chapman, "provided we have no major surprises along the way". He said the clearance of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB meant Airbus has "one less concern".

"It's often said that if an aircraft looks right, it'll fly right," says Chapman. "And, boy, this aircraft looks right."

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