European Aircraft Industry: Grizzly 4, Airbus Military A400M Makes First Flight

The fourth Airbus Military A400M military air-lifter made its first flight last month, the culmination of a highly successful 2010 which also saw the fleet of Grizzly development aircraft complete just over 1,000 hours flight-time and 300 flights. 
 

Known as Grizzly 4, the aircraft took off from Seville, Spain with a weight of 130 ton at 10h18 local time (GMT+1) and landed five hours and ten minutes later. Airbus Head of Flight Operations Fernando Alonso said: “The on-time first flight of Grizzly 4 highlights what has been an excellent first year of the flight-test program. 

The maiden flight of Grizzly 4 followed the completion of a series of milestones in recent months – notably the first paratrooper jumps from the aircraft, which were highly successful and demonstrated the excellent potential of the aircraft for this military operation. Flights with the ramp and doors open have proceeded smoothly. 

An extensive program of flying the aircraft with simulated icing shapes attached to the wings and tail has been completed. These flights were performed by Airbus and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) flight crews and represent the first set of certification tests completed on the A400M. 

Preliminary tests of protective kits for rough-field operations have been completed in preparation for this year’s trials. Flight and ground load testing is complete, as is measurement of cruise performance. All major aircraft systems have been tested and flutter tests throughout the flight envelope are extremely close to completion.

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