How Does The A350 XWB Faired So Far?

The longest test flight was held on 21/June, the day it was shown at Le Bourget Air Show. The flight duration was 8hours and 43 minutes and it was the first time the crew did not wear the parachutes and helmets.

The average time per flight has been 5 hours and 49 minutes.

Flight number	Date	Duration
1st flight	14/June/2013	4h06min
2nd	19/June/2013	5h25min
3rd	21/June/2013	8h43min
4th	25/June/2013	8h07min
5th	26/June/2013	5h27min
6th	27/June/2013	6h14min
7th	04/July/2013	6h54min
8th	05/July/2013	6h31min
9th	06/July/2013	5h52min
10th	08/July/2013	4h35min
11th	09/July/2013	5h52min
12th	10/July/2013	3h23min
13th	10/July/2013	4h55min
14th	11/July/2013	7h08min
15th	12/July/2013	4h08min
	total	87h20min

Airbus is aiming to certificate the A350-900 just over a year from first flight, supported by some 2,500h of flight time. The effort will be accelerated by the decision to use 5 aircraft in the flight-test fleet, and to frontload much of the developmental testing in the operational environment.

Delivery will take place in the second half of 2014, says Flight Test pilot Chapman, "provided we have no major surprises along the way". He said the clearance of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB meant Airbus has "one less concern".


"It's often said that if an aircraft looks right, it'll fly right," says Chapman. "And, boy, this aircraft looks right."