Pre-flight pictures

Some pictures & videos of the PRE-FLIGHT will be uploaded in this post

First flight. Pictures during the flight

Some pictures of the FIRST FLIGHT will be uploaded in this post.

After validating all the flap configurations, chief test pilot Peter Chandler signalled that the aircraft was "behaving extremely well", cruising at 13,000ft, and that the crew was preparing to climb to 25,000ft to explore a higher speed regime.

The aircraft reached 25,000ft about 3h after take-off and then headed west towards Pau.

Some 30min after lift-off the aircraft, travelling at about 190kt, retracted its landing-gear for the first time.

A350 XWB first take off has been done with British punctuality. 10:00h

Some pictures & videos of the TAKE OFF will be uploaded in this post.
Congratulations to all people working in the A350 XWB!

T/O speeds: 145/145/170

T/O thrust: TOGA

ZFW: 171.345 kg

Ramp weight: 221.510 kg

Total fuel: 50.170 kg

25 seconds to lift off . Peter said Vr at 140 kt. Full thrust acceleration of course.

It lifted off from Toulouse Blagnac's runway 32L at 10:00 on 14 June after a 25s ground run. The crew concentrated the flight pattern initially on a region to the southeast and east of Toulouse, around Carcassonne and Pamiers.

A350 XWB First Flight. 14/June/2013. Let’s watch it fly!

Time has come to enjoy the most magical moment we are all waiting for when working on a development Programme. Let’s enjoy the fruit of our combined efforts and dedication to this beautiful aircraft and let’s watch it fly! 

Didier Evrard. Head of A350 XWB Programme

http://www.a350xwbfirstflight.com/

Inside the MSN001 of the First Flight.

There are no seats for passengers. There are a lot of orange cables, monuments, special wiring and a lot of stuff. Everything painted in orange is for FTI; Flight Test Instrumentation.

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There is an evacuation system for flight crew with parachutes. There are orange tubes in the ceiling panels to guide the pilots and test engineers to the emergency exit.

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The flight test station is located in the middle of the aircraft, on the wing. They will help the pilots to fly and to perform different tests. There are 30 cameras installed in the MSN001; a lot of the looking to the landing gears. It´s about 600.000 parameters that are recorded during the flight and are sent to the ground control room where 100 people are monitoring all these parameters and analyzing the data.   

Click the image to watch the video

There is a special seat for Emanuel Constanzo (the famous Manu) who is the test engineer in charge of the engines. From his seat he will be able to watch the engines through the windows and monitor all their parameters in a special monument.

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In the aft section of the fuselage, instead of seats there are water ballast (300kg each). This allows changing the load plan of the aircraft for testing.

Tunisair cancels its order for 3 A350-800s

Tunisair is the latest carrier to abandon the A350-800, bringing the backlog for the type to fewer than 90 aircraft.

The flag-carrier had ordered 3 of the type in July 2008, along with three A330s and 10 A320s.

Airbus's order figures to the end of May no longer list the Tunisair A350s. While several A350-800 customers have converted to larger variants of the A350, the Airbus data indicates that the airline has cancelled outright.

Although this cancellation takes the -800's backlog down to 89 aircraft, Airbus insists that the variant will remain part of the A350 family.

Tunisair has yet to confirm its apparent decision and clarify its reasons. Several aerospace firms have established operations in Tunisia and, despite the country's political unrest sparking sweeping revolutions in other Arab states in 2011, it escaped relatively unscathed.

Airbus EVP for programmes Tom Williams noted, during a briefing in Toulouse on 5/June, that Airbus had encountered problems with suppliers which were trying to source components from Tunisia. He said that, in some cases, Airbus had to take "extraordinary actions" to avoid disturbance in its production line, and "repatriate" components back into Europe.

In 2008, Airbus CEO Gallois declared: ”Airbus will take over Latecoere's proposal to set up in Tunisia to make ordinary parts and invest in more sophisticated production in France, especially for composites.” That was a decision linked to the “Dubbed Power8 Plus”, the new plan that came on top of the earlier Power8 restructuring plan which called for 2.1billion euro of recurring savings between 2007 and 2010, including a plan for 10,000 job cuts.

Based on the article “Tunisair appears to cancel A350-800 order” published in FlightGlobal

MSN5000 Static Test Aircraft. The "torture testing" required for First Flight Clearance, completed. Test campaign continues towards 1.5LL

The MSN5000 is being tested in Toulouse in order to make sure that its brethren meet all of the structural requirements to fly. The static test aircraft is like an A350-900 that will never fly where tail plane, landing gear and engines have been replaced by dummies.

 

20km of electrical wiring and 60km of hydraulic pipes have been installed since Nov/2012. 300 workers have participated in the set up of 12.000 sensors, 235 jacks and 253 loading lines during 4 months, in a “cage” of 2000 square meters going up to 30 meters high.

  

Emmanuel Bodin, head of A350 XWB Major Static Test explaining the test in the video.

The test team is subjecting the aircraft to 1.25 times its stated load limit (1.25LL) before and after the first flight.

click the picture to watch the video

Using jacks and loading lines to push and pull (mostly pull), the wing bending test gets a difference of more than 5 meters between rest position and the maximum bending point of the wingtip.

click the picture to watch the video

Later the MSN5000 will be subjected to it´s ultimate load level test of 1.5 times the stated load limit (1.5LL). “This is more than the aircraft will ever experience and ensures that it has more enough margin for strength.”

click the picture to watch the video

Finally, by end of 2014, the team will stress the diferrent parts of the aircraft until they break  to help us gain experience for future aircraft design. By then, MSN50000 will have served its vital purpose.