BBC report of A400M at Brize Norton
 

Here's the BBC take on the visit to BZN on Friday 1 March. BBC News - Taking to the skies on RAF's new transport plane

Airbus Military's A400M aircraft is poised to take off - Telegraph

Also in today's Torygraph!

It appears that someone has pushed the 'publicity' button.

Remind me what was the orignal in service date.

Defense news: Joint Venture To Train RAF Crews on Atlas A400M

LONDON — Royal Air Force crews set to fly the new Atlas A400M airlifter are to be trained by a joint venture company set up by Airbus Military and Thales UK. The deal is contracted to run for 18 years at a cost of 226 million pounds ($340 million), the joint venture company, known as A400M Training Services, announced Monday.

Separately, the Ministry of Defence revealed it is spending 80 million pounds to modify the Atlas aircraft so it can be fitted with a large aircraft infrared countermeasures system.

The training facility being built at the Brize Norton home of the RAF’s airlifter and inflight refueling fleets is scheduled to be completed in spring 2014, just ahead of the delivery date of the first A400M to the RAF. Air crew and ground maintenance and support personnel will be trained at the Atlas facility using Thales-supplied simulators and other synthetic systems. Thales secured the simulator supply deal in 2007 following a competition.

RAF personnel are already being trained at an Airbus training facility alongside the Seville, Spain, assembly base for the aircraft

MSN7 First flight
 

First production Airbus Military A400M makes maiden flight - Airbus Military

Just returned, nice to get a FF under my belt! :D

Good for you! Can you tell us more? :ok:

Hey TT - good to hear from you! Great news that the first production aircraft has made its maiden flight...:ok:

I'll bet you're glad I poached you from 99 and started you off on your civvy career - you wouldn't have had so much fun in what's left of the RAF!

It was good to see you at F'boro last year - despite the pi$$ing b£oody rain!

CM and Beagle, not much more to say really, the PR sums it up nicely, apart from which, I have to whizz off for the celebration dinner in town! :ok:

Shades of grey
 

Slightly different shade of grey on MSN 7. "Merde gris" is what someone called it on another discussion board. :=

Type Certificate
 

EASA Type Certificate EASA.A.169 was received today.
http://www.easa.europa.eu/certificat...3-13032013.pdf
:ok:

For some reason I just read the certificate. Why?

I did notice something interesting, though.

It describes the aircraft as

And goes on to define

However, we then find that

Transport aircraft aren't what they used to be, are they? :cool:

This must be the restricted type certification with full to come.
I didn't look in any great detail but this only clears up to 31000ft when the ac operates up to at least 37000ft.

theboywide wrote:
>This must be the restricted type certification with full to come.

No, the RTC was already issued April 30th, 2012.

So you are claiming that this, which forbids carrying any passengers or cargo, is the full type certification?

For a gawddam cargo plane?

MTOW is also almost 20,000lbs below original spec (132T iso 141T) which gives limited room for cargo and pax at all, certainly when you look at the
Max Landing Weight of 117.7T(originally122T) and empty weight of 77T,
with full fuel that would make 127T and thus only room for 5T of Cargo.

Temporary restricted type certification, I would like to think.

You reckon? Either that or it's a hell of a big beast just to transport two pilots around the world. Not even a hostie. :eek:

There may be some confusion here between the stage the aircraft has reached with respect to its civil as opposed to its military certification.

Pretty normal in militairy programs.

Futher testing, analyses will lead to expanded capability approvals and the final operating configuration.

This aircraft will go through the qualifications of a passenger transport on civil airways, tactical transport on soft short runways at night, tanker for jets and helicopters, receiver. Mountains of certfication and paperwork..

Airbus Military's A400M: in pictures - Telegraph

No tanker role for UK A400Ms
 

http://www.flightglobal.com/Assets/G...x?ItemID=49856

No tanker role for UK A400Ms

But:

So if the Brits change their minds in say 3 years they can still order kits.

So, nothing to do with the AirTanker contract then.....:rolleyes:

I guess the UK has no plans to refuel helicopters?