FLIGHT TESTING
AIRBUS A220 FLIGHT TEST LOG
Model MSN* FH** FC*** Status
A220-100 50001 760 459 Retired
50002 1,300.8 1,104 FTV2****
50003 944.7 709 Retired
50004 677 782 Retired
50005 645 335 Retired
50006 847.4 828 Retired
A220-100 total 5,174.9 4,217
A220-300 55001 1,214.6 1,050 FTV7
55002 771.9 274 FTV8
A220-300 total 1,986.5 1,324
A220 total 7,161.4 5,541
*Manufacturer’s serial number; **flight-hours; ***flight cycles;
****Flight-test vehicle
Source: Airbus (September 2019)
AIRBUS
The European aircraft manufacturer has
just celebrated its 50th anniversary: the
French and German governments signed
an agreement to jointly develop the A300
at the Paris Airshow in 1969. Meanwhile
its key commercial-aircraft development
programs continued to make good progress
through testing and certification.
AIRBUS A220
By September 2019, eight Pratt & Whitney
PW1500G-powered A220s, the aircraft
formerly known as the Bombardier C
Series, had logged 7,161 flight hours (FH)
over 5,541 flights, including 5,174 FH in
4,217 flights by six Series 100s. The Series
100 is the smaller of the two aircraft in the
A220 family, seating up to 135 passengers
compared with the A220-300s capacity of
up to 160.
Three A220s – Series 100
manufacturer’s serial number (MSN)
50002/flight-test vehicle (FTV) 2 and
Series 300s MSN55001/FTV7 and 55002/
FTV8 – are involved in the flight testing,
the remaining machines having been
retired. With less than 1,000 FH “on the
clock” 50003 / FTV3 is now being used for
technical training at Montreal’s École
Nationale d’Aérotechnique.
Airbus plans to continue A220
in-service and performance-upgrade
testing during 2020, including FADEC
upgrades, increased-weight variant
validation, and avionics- and
configuration-options testing for
customers. The initial flight-test work since
the European manufacturer acquired the
program has included: crosswind-limit
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expansion, wind-shear software upgrade,
high-altitude (10,000ft) testing, satcom
voice-option approval, RNP AR operational
evaluation, emergency-exit dual-lane slide
testing, additional performanceimprovements
testing, and in-service
issues investigation and resolution.
FAA 180-minute ETOPS certification of
the A220 was expected in the final quarter
of 2019, while cold/extreme-cold weather
testing with MSN55002 was postponed to
early 2020.
The A220s have not yet been absorbed
into the new owner’s flight-test and
integration center in Toulouse, the aircraft
remaining at the equivalent Bombardier
facility in Wichita, Kansas, with Airbus
advice and support in defining long-term
A220 flight-test planning.
AIRBUS A320NEO
Airbus has been supporting Pratt &
Whitney (P&W) in new-build standard
PW1100G-JM continuous-airworthiness
campaigns using A320neo MSN6101. Tests
included incremental-development
modifications in hot-weather conditions in
Al-Ain in Abu Dhabi, for which results
were still being analyzed during October.
Meanwhile, A321neo MSN6673 has
been performing Category (Cat) III
automatic-landing (autoland) “Step 2”
flight-testing to extend the “authorized
wind envelope,” which will remove current
wind limitations applied to both PW1100
and CFM International Leap-1A engines.
MSN6673 will be refurbished and sold to a
customer in 2020, while test work
continues with a different airframe.
Under reorganized A319neo/Leap-1A24
arrangements – planned construction of
MSN6620 for this was abandoned and the
work reassigned to MSN6464 – flight
testing was completed and certification
received in December 2018. Cat III flighttesting
for the model remained
outstanding in October 2019.
Re-engined with PW1124G-JMs,
A319neo MSN6464 first flew in April 2019
and was still in test October, ahead of
expected airworthiness approval by the
end of the year. Airbus has confirmed that
1 // Pratt & Whitney’s
PW1100G engine powers
the A320neo
2 // The five-person flight
crew on the ACJ319neo’s
record-setting 16 hour, 10
minute test flight
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