The longest and largest Airbus, A350-1000 made its first flight from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, France. The successful landmark flight consisted of four hours and 18-minutes and effortlessly touched touch at 3:00 pm.
CEO of Airbus Fabrice Brégier describes the A350-1000 as “the world’s most modern and efficient passenger aircraft,” and rightly so! The massive A350-1000 measures close to 74 m (243 ft) from nose to tail, which allows it to accommodate about 40 more passengers than its smaller version A350-900, taking the total to a range of 366 passengers to 440!
The maiden flight, which was handled by a crew of six handlers, led to the collection of valuable experience and data about flight envelope, handling qualities, loads and braking. The company hopes that this information can be combined to create and improve A350 1000’s speed, altitude, angle-of-attack and safety. The collection of data was performed using a chase plane observing and filming the plane, along with a team of experts monitoring via a live telemetry link.
The beast is powered using a Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 turbofan engine, which has been termed to be the most powerful engine ever employed on an Airbus aircraft, with an ability to deliver 97,000 lb (431,477 N) of takeoff thrust and a range of 7,950 nautical miles (9,149 mi/14,723 km).
The A350 was part of the three plane fleet launched by Airbus, the remaining two being MSN071 and MSN065 scheduled to soar within the next year.
Another version of the A350 is the A350 XWB (extra wide body), which is bid to provided extra efficiency and extra space for passengers for medium- to long-haul flights. The beauty is planned to be taking commercial flights during the second half of next year and will be first used by Qatar Airways.
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