Technical Route Proving Mission Completed

The world's largest commercial airliner, the 555-seat Airbus A380, has successfully completed a series of technical route proving missions, the last of the trials needed for type certification. Representatives with Airbus tell ANN the superjumbo received an enthusiastic welcome at each destination.

Returning from its final route that took it over the North Pole, the MSN002 landed in Toulouse, France at 1:30 pm local time Thursday. This final flight left Vancouver, Canada under heavy snow conditions, on Wednesday, November 29 at 4.25 pm local time (00H25 UTC) .

The exercise took the A380 MSN002 across the globe on an 18-day trip, stopping at ten airports in the Asia/Pacific region. During the trials, the aircraft flew approximately 69,000 nm over some 152 flight hours, on a test flight schedule conforming to airline standards but with Airbus flight crews.

All flights performed on schedule. Airworthiness Authority pilots from both the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also participated in the technical route proving, and flew the aircraft on four legs.

A major highlight of the 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. The A380 departed Johannesburg, South Africa, its maximum take-off weight of 1,223,565 lbs and was the heaviest aircraft ever to take off from O.R. Tambo International Airport, located at 5,323 feet above sea level. This trial demonstrated the A380s excellent performance at high altitude airports. The aircraft landed at Sydney airport after a flight of around 16 hours covering a distance of 7,296 nm, circling the South Pole on the way.

As Aero-News reported, the technical route proving started on November 13, with four trips which included visits to Singapore and Seoul on the November 14 and 15, then to Hong Kong and Narita, Japan. On the third trip, the aircraft went to China, stopping at Guangzhou on November 22 and Beijing and Shanghai the next day. The fourth and final journey included the round-the-world trip via both poles with stops in South Africa, Australia and Canada.

At each destination, the A380 demonstrated it can 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.

Airbus says the A380 is on track to receive certification from both EASA and the FAA by the middle of December.

FMI: www.airbus.com