Mil-Log
'Sparkling' first flight for A400M
After months of setbacks and frustration, Airbus' controversial military airlifter, the A400M has finally flown.
Seville's San Pablo airport was the venue and in front of an assembled crowd of defence ministers, contractors, EADS senior executives and journalists from across Europe, the A400M - callsign Grizzly 1 - took to the skies shortly before 10.15am for a flight which lasted three hours 45 mins.
A flight test crew led by former Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules pilot, Ed Strongman took the aircraft through a range of flight regimes and pushed the aircraft up to its top speed of 300 kts (555 km/h). Head of Flight Test Fernando Alonzo said the aircraft took off weighing 127 tonnes, with the cargo hold full of instrumentation equipment.
As well as high-speed testing, the aircraft was also flown at low speeds, and slowed down to its initial stall speed warning level and operated in both “normal” and “direct” flight control laws.
The aircraft returned shortly after 2pm and the crew were given a hero's welcome. Strongman said the A400M had performed as expected. "The handling qualities were sparkling and remarkable," he said.
Rounding off his speech, Strongman added: "It has been a frustrating time for you and for us, but now we have an airplane we can be proud of."
The first flight marks the beginning of what is set to become busy time for Airbus Military. The first flight marks the start of a 3,700 flight hour long flight test programme set to take three years. Five aircraft will be used in the trials which are due to end with the delivery of the first aircraft at the end of 2012.
The type is being certified to both civil and military standards. European EASA certification accounts for 1,850 hours while the remaining 2,250 hours is for military certification and qualification. The next aircraft (MSN002) is in final assembly at Seville and due to fly in March while the last (MSN006) - also is the first production standard A400M - is due to enter flight trials in mid-2011.
Further work continues behind the scenes on sorting out contracts with buyers for the new aircraft. Currently, seven European NATO countries: Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and Belgium have ordered more than 160 aircraft, but ongoing delays and rising costs are causing tempers to fray. One customer, South Africa exited from the programme when it cancelled its order for eight aircraft on November 5, saying the project was not in the interests of the South African taxpayer, while Malaysia has deferred its order for four aircraft, but says it still plans to take delivery, just three years later than planned.
The prototype A400M was rolled out of the Seville factory in June 2008, and had been due to fly shortly afterwards but technical difficulties with the Europrop TP400D engines and its FADEC software meant that a flightworthy FADEC system was not installed on the aircraft until October.
Airbus hope to fly the A400M again before Christmas once checks to the aircraft have been completed.
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