The Airbus A340-500 - the smaller, ultra-long-range sister of the -600 - has passed the halfway mark of its flight-test programme and completed low- speed take-off trials. The single test aircraft has been flying since 11 February and has completed around 200h of the 340h flight-test programme, with late October certification as the target. Air Canada is due to introduce the variant into service in November.
The aircraft underwent minimum control speed tests last month at France's national flight test centre in Istres, including a Vmu (minimum unstick speed) exercise where the rear fuselage is deliberately scraped along the ground to determine the lowest speed at which the aircraft will lift off.
Flutter tests are complete and flights to fine-tune handling qualities and control laws for the fly-by-wire system are in progress. Airbus says results show take-off, climb and cruise performance to be as predicted or better.
Source: Flight International
