Airbus skates over North Pole

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 30 Nov 2006 17:18

There was rare good news for the beleaguered Airbus 380 today as it successfully completed a series of technical route proving missions.

Technical route proving is the last of the trials required for the world’s largest commercial airliner’s Type Certification, which is expected in mid-December.

Returning from its final route that took it over the North Pole, the test plane, designated MSN002, landed in Toulouse, France today at 1.30pm local time. It had left Vancouver, Canada under heavy snow conditions, on Wednesday, 29 November at 4.25 pm local time.

The exercise had taken the A380 across the globe on an 18-day trip, stopping at 10 airports in the Asia/Pacific region. During the trials, the aircraft flew approximately 69,000 nautical miles in some 152 flight hours, with all flights performed on schedule.

In recent months, the aircraft’s progress has been blighted by component delays in its supply chain which have caused the company to put back projected airline delivery dates.

Among the highlights of the proving exercise was the Johannesburg - Sydney trip over the South Pole, where the A380 demonstrated its capability to fly ultra long-range routes at maximum payload.

Airbus said the A380 performed as expected at all of its destinations, demonstrating that it could be turned around as per normal airline operations. Checks were made on standard maintenance and behaviour, as well as typical airport operations and compatibility. This included the monitoring of functions such as bridge docking, cleaning and catering, refuelling and boarding procedures. The automatic landing capability of the A380 was also successfully demonstrated during a local flight performed at Johannesburg.

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