Second A350 XWB test aircraft successfully completes first flight

The second A350 XWB to fly, MSN3, has just landed back at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport France, shortly after 14:30 hours local time, after successfully completing its first flight that lasted approximately five hours.

The A350 XWB test aircraft, MSN3, was flown by Frank Chapman and Thierry Bourges, Airbus Test Pilots. Accompanying them in the cockpit was Gérard Maisonneuve, Test Flight Engineer, while three Flight Test Engineers monitored the progress of the flight profile: Tuan Do, Robert Lignée and Stéphane Vaux.

MSN3 - similarly to MSN1 - has no cabin but is equipped with heavy flight test installation.

The first A350 XWB to fly (MSN1) took off on 14th June, and has to date flown some 330 flight test hours in almost 70 flights. These flights have been devoted to the identification and freeze of all flap and slat configurations, loads and aeroelastic testing and evaluation of the aircraft’s handling characteristics and systems’ operation throughout the operational envelope. Three more A350 XWB test aircraft will join MSN 1 and 3 to perform the planned 2,500 hours up to Type Certification.

The A350 XWB has already won 725 firm orders from 37 customers worldwide. First delivery is planed second half of 2014 to Qatar Airways.