The Airbus A380 is the world’s largest passenger airliner, a wide-body aircraft manufactured by Airbus. The first prototype was unveiled in Toulouse on 18 January 2005, with its first flight on 27 April 2005. The full-length double-deck aircraft has a typical seating capacity of 525, though it is certified for up to 853 passengers. I simply love Airbus planes – particularly A350 & A380 and has been very closely following since the project inception in 2000s to demo flights in 2005 / 2006 when it visited Shanghai among other cities in the world to first flight between Singapore – Sydney in 2007 and till now. I also closley followed the Airbus factories in Hamburg & Tianjin. Im very sad that production of A380 would cease in 2021

AIRBUS A380 : TESTING

 

The first completed A380 at the “A380 Reveal” event in Toulouse, France, 18 January 2005

 

A380 prototype on its maiden flight

• Five A380s were built for testing and demonstration purposes
• The first A380, registered F-WWOW, was unveiled in Toulouse 18 January 2005
• It first flew on 27 April 2005
• This plane, equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, flew from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport with a crew of six headed by chief test pilot Jacques Rosay
• Rosay said flying the A380 had been “like handling a bicycle”
• On 1 December 2005, the A380 achieved its maximum design speed of Mach 0.96, (its design cruise speed is Mach 0.85) in a shallow dive
• In 2006, the A380 flew its first high-altitude test at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport
• It conducted its second high-altitude test at the same airport in 2009
• On 10 January 2006, it flew to José María Córdova International Airport in Colombia, accomplishing the transatlantic testing, and then it went to El Dorado International Airport to test the engine operation in high-altitude airports
• It arrived in North America on 6 February 2006, landing in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Canada for cold-weather testing

 

Flight test engineer’s station on the lower deck of A380 F-WWOW

• On 14 February 2006, during the destructive wing strength certification test on MSN5000, the test wing of the A380 failed at 145% of the limit load, short of the required 150% level
• Airbus announced modifications adding 30 kg (66 lb) to the wing to provide the required strength
• On 26 March 2006, the A380 underwent evacuation certification in Hamburg
• With 8 of the 16 exits arbitrarily blocked, 853 mixed passengers and 20 crew exited the darkened aircraft in 78 seconds, less than the 90 seconds required for certification
• Three days later, the A380 received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to carry up to 853 passengers
• The first A380 using GP7200 engines—serial number MSN009 and registration F-WWEA—flew on 25 August 2006
• On 4 September 2006, the first full passenger-carrying flight test took place
• The aircraft flew from Toulouse with 474 Airbus employees on board, in a test of passenger facilities and comfort
• In November 2006, a further series of route-proving flights demonstrated the aircraft’s performance for 150 flight hours under typical airline operating conditions
• As of 2014, the A380 test aircraft continue to perform test procedures
• Airbus obtained type certificates for the A380-841 and A380-842 model from the EASA and FAA on 12 December 2006 in a joint ceremony at the company’s French headquarters receiving the ICAO code A388
• The A380-861 model was added to the type certificate on 14 December 2007