First Flight Successfully Completed Early Friday Morning
ANN Realtime Update 12.11.2009 1425 Following
is the official news realase from EADS on the first flight of the
A400M:
Photo Courtesy Airbus
The first Airbus Military A400M military airlifter has landed
back in Seville, Spain today at 1402 local time (1302 UTC) after
completing a successful maiden flight lasting 3h 47min following
its take-off at 1015 local time.
Chief Test Pilot Military, Edward "Ed" Strongman, captained the
flight supported by Experimental Test Pilot Ignacio "Nacho" Lombo.
The engineering team on board included: Senior Flight Test Engineer
Jean-Philippe Cottet who had responsibility for the powerplants;
Senior Flight Test Engineer Eric Isorce with responsibility for the
aircraft systems and performance; Senior Flight Test Engineer
Didier Ronceray with responsibility for the handling qualities of
the aircraft; and Test Flight Engineer Gerard Leskerpit.
The crew confirmed that the aircraft, known as MSN 1 and its
four Europrop International TP400D turboprop engines performed as
expected.
Ed Strongman said: "We have had a very successful first flight -
the take-off performance was impressive, we explored a lot of the
operational flight envelope, and it was a delight to operate in
such a well-designed cockpit with its easy interface to all the
normal and military systems. I'm sure our customer pilots are
really going to like it - we certainly did."
Nacho Lombo added: "From the very beginning of the flight we
were impressed by the ease of handling of the aircraft which was in
line with what we experienced in the simulator. The aircraft,
systems and engine performance were highly satisfactory. We sense
the great potential of this magnificent machine. It has been an
honour for all the crew to fly the A400M on its maiden flight,
representing all the people involved in the programme."
Chief Executive Officer Airbus Military, Domingo Urena-Raso,
said: "I would like to congratulate Ed Strongman, Nacho Lombo and
all of the flight-test team for completing the first flight of the
A400M with great success. I am also deeply grateful to everyone in
the design, manufacturing and early operations of this programme
for their enormously hard work and dedication that have made this
aircraft a reality. And I want to thank all those people in our
industrial partners and suppliers, as well as our customers, who
have contributed so much to the definition and creation of an
outstanding product."
Photo Courtesy Airbus
Airbus CEO Tom Enders said: "I hope we can soon provide
certainty that we are able to continue the A400M programme. This is
expected by those at Airbus, our partners and suppliers worldwide
who contributed so strongly to today's success as well as by the
air forces who wait for their plane."
For its first flight the aircraft took off at a weight of 127
tons, carrying 15 tons of test equipment including two tons of
water ballast, compared with its maximum take-off weight of 141
tons. As planned, the six-man crew extensively explored the
aircraft's flight envelope in direct law, including a wide
speed-range, and tested lowering and raising of the landing gear
and high-lift devices at altitude. After checking the aircraft's
performance in the landing configuration the crew landed back at
Seville.
In the first half of 2010 MSN 1 will be joined by two sister
aircraft, MSN 2 and MSN 3, followed by MSN 4 by the end of the
year. A fifth aircraft will join the programme during 2011. This
fleet will be used for some 3,700 hours of test-flying between now
and first delivery to the French Air Force at the end of 2012. This
will be followed by additional military development flying. The
type will be certificated by both the civil and military
authorities.
A total of 184 aircraft have so far been ordered by Belgium,
France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey and the United
Kingdom.
Original Story:
The long-delayed Airbus Military A400M Airlifter flew for the
first time at about 0600 EST in Seville, Spain Friday morning to
the applause of Airbus Military employees, as well as political and
military officials gathered for the event.
Photo Courtesy Airbus
First agreed to back in 2003 by NATO countries Germany, Spain,
France, Britain, Turkey, Belgium and Luxembourg, deliveries are
already three years behind schedule, an it may take as much as an
additional $7.4 billion to complete, according to the international
news service AFP
Photo Courtesy Airbus
Louis Gallois, head of Airbus parent company EADS, said the
maiden flight marked the beginning of a series of tests that should
last about a year. "A second plane will fly at the end of March and
a third before the summer of 2010," he said.
Much of the delay in the program has centered on the airplanes
four massive turboprop engines, designed to deliver 11,000 shp each
they are reported to be the largest developed outside Russia. The
aircraft is designed as a direct competitor to the C-130. Airbus
says it will fly up to FL400, and operate from short and unimproved
runways.
Photo Courtesy Airbus
AFP reports that France and Germany have both given Airbus to
the end of the year to prove that the A400M remains a viable
system, and Great Britain has asked to re-negotiate its contract
with Airbus. South Africa cancelled its order for 17 of the
aircraft in November, citing costs that had increased from $1.2
billion initially to $6.1 billion now.
Airbus hopes the first flight will ease the concerns of the
seven European air forces that have orders collectively for 180 of
the airlifters. "I hope we can conclude the negotiations in the
weeks ahead," Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders told Dow Jones
Newswires. The Wall Street Journal reports that EADS hopes to
diliver 4 A400M's in 2013, with the eventual production rate
increasing to 30 airplanes per year.