Nice sight near Toulouse
 

It's encouraging to see A400s regularly flying over the small village where I live "between the river and the mountains" - their "grizzly growl" sounds quite different from anything else, and at what look like quite high speeds there's a distinctive "howl" as well ... gets the neighbours out to scan the skies in appreciation !
GO Grizzly ! (even if the nickname gets certain Airships the heeby-jeebies).

PS I still think it'll look better stretched - if that gearbox could take more power ! :cool:

Phew thats good news then, hate to think of it being any later than it is :ok:

Jig Peter I saw somewhere the TP400 engines are build with growth potential included, so I guess the gearbox too..

Yrs ago I sketched a stretched US A400M. The A400M seems volume limited when operating from regular air fields. 40t can be a lot of low density load.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z...rtAircraft.jpg

Re: SFFP Post 79
 

What might satisfy SFFP (and give Their Airships yet more vapours) on the day the A400M enters RAF service would be to arrange a tagger to add a "t" at the end of the name* their 'Ships have given it ... only to be revealed when the drapes covering the name fall ceremoniously away ...

:E:E:E










(* "Atlas" for the unwary)

Or perhaps an 'f' and an extra 's'?

Everyone knows that ALMs like a fAtlass....:eek:

I don't see much need for a stretch, given that the max. payload has already increased from the 25 tonne of 'Euroflag Solution 20' through 37 tonne in 2003 to the present 40 tonne.

Beags,
always remember the larger lady is always more grateful . Big girls need loving too (and they kept one warm in the snowy wastes of Newfoundland and Labrador!):\

Any pictures of it flying in the last couple of days :ok:

@ SFFP (again !!)
 

Sorry, Sir - too busy trimming roses and suchlike, but I can assure you that A400 airborne sightings occurred (and one probable, but only heard) at least twice in the Toulouse area during the second half of last week. Also, photos of aircraft lining up for approach at, say 1000 ft, aren't what one would hang on one's sitting room wall. (and I ain't got a camera anyway).
France's summer break was over a week or so ago, and it was good to see Grizzly/Atlas getting on with the testing programme. Dunno about events in Spain, but I can assure you that the "special" A400 sound is good to hear, at least for me, as well as other Airbus products on test, or in service (after all, that's what pays some of my pension ...).
Another thing - the RAF would be further forward in the queue if only the various UK ministries involved had shown some urgency - but 'twas ever thus, wonnit ?:{

So nothing since last week............

And if it makes that much noise it'll be bugger all use as a replacement MPA before anyone suggests it!

Elmo, the A400M has hose and drogue. Sonobuoydispensers are more for naval aircraft, a JATO stoll package such as on the C130? Never heard of it for the A400M. Probably too big an aircraft for the mission.

If I can heave smoke floats and an ASRA kit out of a Herc para door I'm sure a few sonobouys will be no problem for the A400M's larger para door.

Rising to the bait
 

OK, so I rise to SFFP's bait again, but his post on a Sunday saying "so nothing since last week" rather flabbers my gasts - perhaps I should have made it clear that I meant "7 - 9 September".
This Monday's quiet, though: little air traffic of any kind, so the photo-snappers round the airport won't have much to click their shutters at, which will probably give SFFP something else to sneer about ...

Personal Ignore list - "GO". Out

JP,

It was a genuine enquiry, nothing more nothing less.

SFFP

Understood - though wondering on a Sunday if there has been more activity since Friday ... !!!:eek::eek:
I believe they're making good enough progress for "Stakhonovitis" not to be imminent.
Ignore list - "Delete last entry - GO"

Its currently busy on certification work and to reassure the doubters it flew past my window not an hour ago. :ok:

Why would we need a replacement MPA?

According to the coalition government this maritime nation doesn't require any aircraft for the role!

Modern Elmo,

Quote:

---

Keesje, where's the JATO STOL package, the sonobuoy dispensers, and the refueling boom?

And shouldn't you also have a drawing of an A400 equipped with ski landing gear for snowy operations?

---

Care to comment on the stealthuy Transport, Tanker, Bomber Gunship approach the americans are taking?

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/th...dit%20usaf.jpg

IMAGES: Lockheed's stealth C-130 successor revealed - The DEW Line

Maybe a good time to start adjusting your an MPA is an MPA, a tanker a tanker and a transport a transport view. Reality doesn't seem to agree no more.

Doesn't look like a very good engine layout for rough strip ops!

Wind tunnel models do not a competitor make.

Bit shy on the nose aspect RCS as well, unless the engines are retractable

ouch they forgot about the engine RCS.. ;)

the final design is to have 4 smaller engines

these are real engines (Williams) apparently good enough for these tests

most tunnel test are to confirm computer modelling these days

this is a big model, which could mean they are past conceptual testing (smaller milled models)

maybe ground effect testing?

It seems to have big wings, offering space for lots of fuel.

High energy RTO and emergency evacuations complete
 

...the two not connected, I hasten to add.

Here's the latest.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/th...dit%20usaf.jpg

is surely a contender for the caption competition???

sw

Pierre - Is anyone listening?
Klaus - No, ve are safe.
Pierre - I cannot believe the plans are working this well. Nobody in the USAF realizes that they will not have the monnaie for this connerie volant any time before 2050.
Klaus - Yes, and Simon and Jacques are doing the same over at the Army, selling them on Quad Tilt Rotors...
Pierre - Yes, Airbus C-48A by 2020, it is in the bag.

Why are those skipping homs wearing safety harness's on a platform as benign as that......:rolleyes:

Now where have I seen that shape and concept before........hmmm

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3292/...08cb703e17.jpg

LowObservable, probably righty. While smart, heavily subsidized & proud techies design game changing, revolutionairy concepts, EADS will do a US tour in 2012 with the A400M.

Around 2015 the game is on when LM and Boeing have re-read DOD RFI's on the topic & see A400M people visiting washington too often & the US Marines considering an order.

They'll probably pull the patriotic card again, using fear and xenophobism to avoid a "french"" aircraft entering service. We've seen it with the tanker. The JSF, Apache, F18 and Hawks must have a fair chance in every foreign competition, but if the home forces are concerned the masks are off & flag waving takes over.

It seems the A400m recently successfully completed high-energy rejected take-off tests.

http://www.airbusmilitary.com/Portal..._22_2011_2.jpg

Pretty much my read on the situation.

I haven't seen anything realistic from the US services or industry other than building C-130s in perpetuity. If the Army downsizes (as it will) there will be a lot of capacity for basic trash-hauling for a while, until the older C-130s start running out of hours, but there will still be niche missions.

Actually, if the F-35B survives and proves capable of austere-base operations (that is, doesn't blow a huge hole in the runway every time it lands) the A400M would be a good support aircraft.

Actually, if the F-35B survives and proves capable of austere-base operations (that is, doesn't blow a huge hole in the runway every time it lands) the A400M would be a good support aircraft.

Keesje, how about a drawing of an A400 landing on a USS America-class LHA? Don't forget "Marines" markings.

Also, put some armament on your A400m:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...h_Hellfire.jpg

Sorry, I don't know what you are talking about. You mean an A400M landing on a flight deck ?!

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_America_%28LHA-6%29

USS America LHA-6 concept drawing

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-0000X-001.jpg

This is of topic but it interests me ... People You Used To Know Who End Up In
Surprisingly Bad Way Dept.:


The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear the appeal of J. Reece Roth, a 74-year-old former UT professor emeritus convicted in 2008 of violating federal arms control law....

Roth's next stop will be prison, where he must serve a four-year sentence. He'd been free on bond during his appeal. ...

... Roth, a professor emeritus of electrical engineering, worked as a consultant on an Air Force project to develop technology for unmanned drone aircraft. He used graduate students from China and Iran on that project and took documents from the project to China in 2006 — even though the university and his contract had warned against doing either.

U.S. Supreme Court turns down retired UT professor's appeal » Knoxville News Sentinel

I took a course under good old Perfesser Grease Broth in 1981.

Water ingestion test
 

This Spanish-language site has a nice photo of water ingestion test apparently performed last week. I could not find any other reporting of that event, and my Spanish isn't up to much, but the gist seems to be it went well [EDIT: So-so - See posts below from Trin Stab and Algy -- end EDIT], and the pic is certainly worth a look.

@Elmo: Tough. But people do strange things at times.

Actually it says that there was water ingression into the main gear wells which caused damage to an (unspecified) part.

Oh thanks for the info, Trim Stab. Probably should've checked that dictionary. So here's a Google translation:

Last October 15 was carried out one of the most spectacular, the water intake.

This was rolled to a development aircraft over a pool of entr2 2 and 7 cm deep, set on a track. The A400M Grizzly made ​​several passes in different configurations at speeds up to 90 kt, even with the propellers into reverse without water projected by the landing gear came into the engines. The test, however, damaged a piece main landing gear hatches related to the extent gravity of the train. Apparently, the water created a pressure on one side of the trap that ended up causing the failure of the part.

Thanks for the interest. It did in fact go very nicely.

The damage occurred to a "pad" which protects the LG door from the wheels under gravity lowering. Some of the wash was unexpectedly forced into the void between the wheel and pad. It's a minor issue.