International Crew Will Be First To Fly The New Airplane

When the first A350 XWB to fly, known as MSN1, makes its maiden flight, an international crew of six will be on board, comprising two Flight Test Pilots, one Test Flight Engineer and three Flight Test Engineers.

Two test pilots and the project test flight engineer will be located in the cockpit. Peter Chandler, an Experimental Flight Test Pilot with Airbus since 2000 and Chief Test Pilot since 2011; Guy Magrin, an Experimental Flight Test Pilot with Airbus since 2003 and Project Pilot for the A350 XWB; and Pascal Verneau, who has held various positions in Airbus’ flight test division since 1999 and is the A350 XWB Project Test Flight Engineer.
 
Our A350 XWB Project pilots have been heavily involved in cockpit and systems design and integrations from the operational perspective.
 
The three remaining first flight test crew members, all of them Experimental Flight Test Engineers, will be working at dedicated flight test stations and managing the progress of the flight profile. Fernando Alonso, Flight Test Engineer with Airbus since 1982 and Head of Airbus Flight & Integration Test Centre since 2007; Patrick du Ché, Flight Test Engineer with Airbus since 2001 and currently Head of Development Flight Tests since 2012; and Emanuele Constanzo, Flight Test Engineer with Airbus since 2004 and lead Flight Test Engineer for the Trent XWB engine.

Over this past weekend, the Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB engines were run for the first time on A350 XWB MSN1 following the start-up of the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), as part of the preparations for the aircraft’s maiden flight.

(Images provided by Airbus)

FMI: www.airbus.com