The A380 assemblies under construction at the various plants include those for the first flying aircraft, "MSN001", as well as the static test airframe. According to executive vice-president A380 programme, Charles Champion, the first set of subassemblies to enter the final assembly line in Toulouse will be for MSN001, but the first to be finished will be the static test airframe. "The static test airframe will be transferred to the test hangar in Toulouse around July," he says.
MSN001 is due to be formally rolled out in Toulouse at the end of the year, ahead of a first flight in early 2005. With the A380 a little over two years from entering service with launch customer Singapore Airlines, Champion says that Airbus is already starting to prepare the ground for the launch of commercial flights. "We will set up a customer readiness forum in 2004, at the request of launch operators. This will involve Airbus and the launch customers, and will look at all aspects of the programme before entry into service," he says.
Full-scale fatigue testing will be carried out in Dresden, Germany, in a new hangar which was recently opened by German engineering test company IABG and IMA. Beginning in November 2005, the tests will simulate successive flights, simulating uneven runway surfaces and all loads expected during flight.
IABG was commissioned by Airbus in 2002 to conduct the fatigue test and construct the 4,950m2 (53,300ft2) test hangar, having performed similar work on previous Airbus aircraft, most recently concluding the 50,000 flight-cycle A340-600 full-scale fatigue test in June.
Source: Flight International
