The first flight of the Airbus Military A400M is “progressing as planned”, according to Airbus’s head of flight test Fernando Alonso.
Aircraft MSN001 took off around 10min late due to “some glitches with the instrumentation”, he says, but during its first hour of flight its crew successfully extended its flaps to landing configuration and also retracted its landing gear. Computers linked to test equipment had to be reset twice, but Alonso says the minor issue was resolved, and did not threaten the first flight event.
“For the time being everything is going fine, and the crew is comfortable with the aeroplane,” says Alonso.
MSN001 took to the air with a take-off weight of 127t, and is currently flying at an altitude of around 8,000ft (2,440m) over south-west Spain.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
