Tue, Mar 08, 2011
The Test Airframe Has Successfully Completed The Number Of
Required Simulated Flight-Cycles
Airbus Military has successfully completed the number of
required simulated flight-cycles on a full scale test airframe to
achieve civil type certification of the A400M by the European
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
1,665 simulated flights are required for European Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA) type certification of the A400M. Airubs
planned a total of 25,000 simulated flights over an 18 month period
- equating to 2.5 times the A400M's design-life. Static testing of
another A400M test airframe, MSN5000 was completed in Madrid in
September 2010. That airframe continues to be used for further
fatigue tests of composite structures which will last until early
2012.
The test program is required to simulate flights at least one
year ahead of the actual operations performed by the aircraft. The
test specimen at Dresden, known as MSN5001, has now undergone the
required number of cycles, which equates to about five times the
maximum number of flights expected to be recorded annually by each
A400M in service, in order to give a large safety margin.
The German government recently reached an agreement with Airbus
to buy 53 of the A400M airlifters, and plans to sell 13 to outside
parties. That agreement reportedly removed the final hurdle to
completing the long-overdue and over-budget transport aircraft. A
consortium of European governments which had been working to rescue
the project agreed to a price increase that will push the overall
cost of the aircraft to the various governments to nearly $2.7
billion.
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