Aircraft Will Be Stressed To Imitate 160 Flights Per Day

Major fatigue testing of the Airbus Military A400M has begun on schedule in Dresden in January. The test airframe, known as MSN5001, will be subjected to a punishing regime of loads, 24 hours per day, for an initial four weeks, eventually simulating 160 flights per day.

A400M Fatigue Testing

The first 1,665 simulated flights are required for European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification of the A400M, but over the next 18 months a total of 25,000 simulated flights will be performed - 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.

File Photo

Four of the A400Ms are in the current test flight program. The fourth Airbus Military A400M military airlifter has made its first flight late in December, and the four airplanes completed just over 1,000 hours flight-time and 300 flights last year. Airbus says flight and ground load testing are complete, as is measurement of cruise performance. All major aircraft systems have been tested and flutter tests throughout the flight envelope are extremely close to completion. The Europrop International (EPI) TP400 engines have been performing well, with the in-flight relight capability having been successfully demonstrated and ground starts following an overnight cold-soak recently performed. Behavior of the auxiliary power unit has been excellent, and it has been started as high as 40,000ft.

FMI: www.airbus.com