Story ID: 385
Airbus Forges Ahead with A330neo
By: Ian Goold
Caption: With certification targeted for mid-2018, two flight test aircraft will complete the task.
Word Count: 508
Under what it terms a “fast-paced development program from launch to first delivery,” Airbus has embarked on a 1,100-flight-hour test campaign aimed at achieving EASA and FAA type certification for the A330-900, the first variant of its re-engined A330neo (for new engine option), around mid-2018. The A330neo twin-aisle twinjet is powered exclusively with Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 turbofan engines.

An additional 300 flight-hours will be invested in obtaining airworthiness approval for the smaller A330-800 variant. The European manufacturer said that flight testing will be performed in an airline-like operating environment intended to ensure "maximum aircraft maturity and reliability at entry into service [EIS]" with A330-900 launch operator TAP Portugal. "This phase will also define the mature aircraft documentation to be available at EIS."

In the hands of experimental test pilots Thierry Bourges and Thomas Wilhelm, and test-flight engineer Alain Pourchet, A330-900 manufacturer's serial number (MSN) 1795—the first of three development aircraft—made a 4-hour 13-minute maiden flight on October 19 at the Airbus Flight and Integration Test Centre in Toulouse, France. Monitoring aircraft systems and performance on board were flight-test engineers Emiliano Requena Esteban and Gert Wunderlich and Airbus head of development flight-testing, Jean-Philippe Cottet.

The full flight-test campaign will involve two A330-900s (MSNs 1795 and 1813, the latter expected to fly shortly) and an A330-800 (MSN 1888), each equipped with a medium-level flight-test instrument fit. They will be complemented by first-production A330-900 MSN 1819 with a lighter flight-test instrumentation setup. This third machine will validate the A330neo passenger cabin, which is configured with the manufacturer's Airspace interior, which is designed to accommodate up to 10 more passengers than earlier A330-200 and -300 models.

The overall A330neo flight-test campaign involving MSN 1795 (600 flight-hours) and MSN 1813 (500 flight-hours) comprises five phases, with the second machine scheduled to fly midway through the first period. Testing will cover Initial development, development tests, certification tests, EIS preparation and EIS support.

Before the A330neo inaugural flight last month, Airbus had already completed some 130 flight-hours of testing with A330-200 MSN 871 between late 2015 and the second quarter of this year. The work involved validation of the A330neo's upgraded flight-control laws, systems de-risking, and initial checks of Airspace cabin components (such as overhead luggage bins).

The A330-900's first flight was used to assess handling, check systems and expand the flight envelope at up to 30,000 feet, before checking performance in approach configuration at height before landing. After taking off with flight controls in direct law, a climb to 10,000 feet was followed by an assessment of A330neo handling as the crew began an initial flight-envelope expansion.

Further expansion was made as aircraft systems were monitored before the aircraft reached its nominal ceiling. Confirmation of behavior with the aircraft set up in runway-approach mode was followed by the crew conducting a first approach and go-around from 300 feet ahead of a second approach and the A330neo's first landing, again with flight controls in direct law.