Rotating the test crew in the 2nd flight and increasing the confidence in the 3rd long-flight test.

The 2^nd flight test was made on 19/June and was the first time the A350 XWB flight over open-sea in the Atlantic coast at La Rochelle. The A350 MSN001 cleared the full envelope on a mission that lasted more than 5 hr. The aircraft climbed to 42,000 ft. and reached Mach 0.89, its maximum cruise speed, as well as its maximum angle of attack in normal law

click on the picture to watch the video

There were 2 changes to the flight crew:

• Fernando Alonso was replaced by Didier Ronceray (who was on the telemetry room on the first flight). 
• Guy Magrin was replaced by Frank Chapman (who was the commenter in the live transmission of the first flight) 

Airbus is rotating their test pilots&engineers around even from second flight. The team that will fly the A350 flight test aircraft fleet (5 planes) is composed by more than 20 members.

  

click on the picture to watch the video

There were 3 take offs; 

• 1st long and high flight over sea (up to FL430)
• 2nd take off, right hand circuit and landing
• 3rd take off, tight left hand circuit and landing

"I think the way this [flight-test campaign] has started is tremendous." said Fernando Alonso

The 3^rd flight test lasted for 8 hours and 44 minutes (from 10:49h  to 19:33h) and it was flying over Le Bourget Air Show on 21/June at 13:32h (just before starting the flight display with the French Acrobatic Patrol)   

The confidence of the test crew is increasing as the parachutes, helmets and orange flightsuits were not worn for the 3^rd flight.

 

Once again, the crew was changed for this flight; Guy Magrin came back, joining Peter Chandler and Pascal Verneau in the flight deck. The flight test engineers consisted of Emanuele Costanzo (engine test engineer who also flew on the 1st and 2nd flights), Didier Ronceray (who flew on the second flight) and Tuan Do.

 

 

 

Flight AIB03WB on FR24 

 

 

China and Russia launch a study for alternative aircraft that will compete against the 787 and the A350 XWB.

When the wide-body aircraft market is a shared duopoly between Boeing (787 & 777 families) and Airbus (A350 family), it seems that China and Russia have launched pre-feasibility studies for a jointly developed wide-body aircraft project.

China and Russia will work together to carry out market, conceptual design, key technologies, basic comprehensive, business and other five areas demonstration and research work. By 2015 it is scheduled to complete the preliminary joint evaluation work after identifying key technologies, conducting research studies, defining the Sino-Russian cooperation, the economic feasibility and airworthiness certification requirements.

The Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, Mr. Yuri Slusar said that the wide-body aircraft project will be funded by the Russian side to provide technical and commercial fund, although the joint venture will be located in China.

The range-target for the new wide-body aircraft will be 18.500 km, bigger than ranges of 787 and A350.

Based on the article “Challenges B787 and A350: Russian wide-body aircraft project surfaced” published in Financial News

Airbus has announced in Paris Air Show the agreement reached with United Airlines for 35 A350-1000 aircraft

United Airlines and Airbus have announced that the airline will add 35 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to its future fleet. The agreement between the companies represents a conversion of the U.S. carrier's previous order for 25 A350-900s to the -1000 model, as well as the addition of 10 more orders for A350-1000 aircraft. The announcement was made during the Paris Air Show.

The A350-1000 is capable of flying 8,400 nautical miles non-stop and will be operated by United on higher density routes, including non-stop flights between the United States and the Asia/Pacific region.

“We look forward to taking delivery of the A350-1000,” said Jeff Smisek, United’s Chairman, President and CEO. “This is a modern, fuel-efficient and advanced-technology aircraft that our customers and co-workers will enjoy flying.  It will be a great addition to our fleet and will allow us to meet demand on larger, long-haul markets in our world-leading network.”

“The latest announcement from United Airlines is yet another endorsement for the A350-1000,” said Fabrice Bregier, Airbus President and CEO. “Less than a week after the success of the A350 XWB’s first flight, we see that demand for the new aircraft continues to grow, especially for the larger -1000 model. Airbus is proud to have United Airlines on board the exciting A350 program in such a significant way.” 

The A350 XWB debuts in the París Air Show

In the3rd flight, the MSN001 is over-flying the 50 th edition of the París Air Show. French President Hollande is attending today, the first public day of the show and he will be the witness of this milestone.

In TLS on 14 june 2013

Great surprise.

A350 XWB Centre fuselage section for Fatigue Test shipped to the Test-house.

The centre fuselage for the fatigue test specimen -which must survive 86.400 simulated flights- has arrived at IABG in Erding. Two semiwings are scheduled to arrive at Erding by the end of June to start the join-up in July. First tests are planned for early 2014.

The Beluga brought the centre fuselage from St.Nazaire to the Munich airport and from there, a special heavy truck shipped the fuselage section to Erding.

According to IABG, the objective of structural testing is "to proof the strength, fatigue and damage tolerance of aircraft primary structure, which is almost completely made by composite materials". In the test, all loads occurring in the flight operations are simulated. 86.400 flights are 3 times of the intended service-life.

Based on the article “New Airbus will be tested in Erding” published in Süddeustche

  

The fuselage join of the MSN2 progresses as scheduled in the FAL.

In Toulouse Final Assembly Line, work continues on MSN2 on which cabin modules have been delivered the first week of June. After the fuselage sections arrival, join-up started last week and the test installation of the Cockpit Door Module and of a zone 1 galley (next to the cockpit) was also successfully conducted.

 

This is the first time fit-checks have been done so early, thanks to a very good work upstream with Cabin 0 and PMU (Physical Mock Up) teams in Hamburg and with interior suppliers.

 

Indeed, if cabin activity is just starting on the test aircraft, a lot of work has already been done on scale 1 mockups in Toulouse and Hamburg, as well as on other cabin pre-validation tools developed by Airbus and its suppliers.

A350 First-Flight Sequence: destination New York.

Only 2 days from the first-flight milestone on its A350 program, Airbus flight-test center head Fernando Alonso said one of his challenges is “not to be overconfident.”

He described last week’s first flight as being “totally uneventful” and “a little bit boring,” when he presented the first details on the opening day of the Paris Air Show.

The maiden voyage actually took five minutes longer than planned (4h. + 5min), but that was because French air traffic control sent the aircraft into a holding pattern before it was handed over from the Bordeaux to the Toulouse-Blagnac ATC center.

The aircraft initially climbed to 10,000 ft. in 8 min. and remained in the 10,000-15,000 ft. range for 2 hours and 48 minutes. During that time, the crew tested various configurations of the aircraft initially in the most basic version of direct control law, but eventually switched to normal law.

“We went through sweeps to see how the structure reacts before we went to normal law,” Alonso said. “It is time-consuming, but straightforward.”

Similar tests were performed in normal law after around 90 minutes with data being checked against calculated models through telemetry. “2 hours after take-off we were in normal law with all configurations cleared”.

The only glitch during the first flight involved pressurization, but it only happened because of a programming mistake. Cabin pressure started to go down because the computer was assuming the aircraft was landing after 45 minutes as initially programmed. “We then entered New York as a destination and the pressure came back up again,” Alonso said.

The crew took the aircraft to 25,000 ft. in normal law and cleared several configurations in normal and direct law before engaging the autopilot for the last 5 minutes of the cruise flight. The descent was also initiated in autopilot and autothrust mode and the crew tested buffeting effects.

Back at 10,000 ft., an approach was simulated in full landing configuration, including a flare. Chandler and Magrin also went through a go-around procedure and decelerated down to a stall warning. While the 2 had built in some margin on take-off speed, they took out that margin on landing and used brakes, reversers and spoilers as they would in routine operations.  

According to Alonso, performance and fuel-burn tests only start in earnest in the coming weeks; first-flight data is not meaningful because of all the configuration changes and the protracted flight time with the landing gear extended.

Based on the article “Airbus Details A350 First-Flight Sequence” published in Aviation Week