VISIT TO AIRBUS INDUSTRIES ON JUNE 2nd 2009
A Report by Ian Sutherland
The visit was arranged by Nick Parkhouse and many thanks must go to him for making it such a successful and very interesting visit. All our Airbus participants were from the Air Testing department and that made the visit particularly interesting for the Air Squadron members. Our thanks must also go to Maxi Gainza for his offer to visit his Uncles collection in Toulouse and booking an excellent lunch table in Biarritz after the visit. A restaurant worth the visit!
Tuesday 2nd June was the day of arrival at Toulouse, most Air Squadron members arriving at Lasbordes, a small airfield with a very nice hard runway to the South East of Toulouse Blagnac, the International airport. The weather was perfect and in the afternoon when most arrived pilots and passengers could see for miles. A great help!
After booking in the Hotel Crowne Plaza AS members gathered in the hall at 6pm and then walked to the Hotel d’Assezat that housed the museum of the Bemberg Foundation where Uncle Maxi’s collection is housed. And what a collection! That one person could amass such a collection, mainly of paintings but also many artefacts in a life time, and Maxi’s uncle is still alive and kicking aged 93 years is substantial achievement.
The building is historic in its own right dating back to the sixteenth century when its owner made a substantial fortune, a huge fortune, from the special blue paint the Toulouseans manufactured from a local blue flower. Very rich they became and the building was in those days a private house with a huge cellar below where the Air Squadron were the guests of Airbus that evening after the museum visit.
The collection is housed in about eight large rooms on two floors with much anti thieving devices installed and room watchers sitting, necessary for such a valuable collection of Art. The first room the writer entered contained a whole collection of Canelletos’. Some immediately recognisable as they are often seen in books. Another room has a collection of Picasso from his earliest period, including the early days when he was portrait painting and drawing. Yes, his early portrait crayon sketches are a remarkable sign of his mastery of his art. Then you see the gradual development of his other ideas of expression, all in front of you!
Dinner that evening was held in the Hotel cellars and complete with the Air Squadron members wives and our Host Mr Tom Williams Executive Vice President, Programmes and Fernando Alonso Head of Flight Test Programmes. A fabulous example of French gastronomony, fois grass in Armagnac, duck confit, followed by Lamb in a herb crust with cabbage and shallot heart. Red wine. Chassagne Montrachet etc. The meal was not a school dinner!
Wednesday 3rd June was the day the real visit started, pick up at 8am, or 7 am if you were on English time! The bus took the party to M81 a conference room and we were welcomed by Fernando Alonso. He briefed us on the overall Airbus 380 programme and mentioned the A400M (military) programme. This is a somewhat political problem in that some supporting countries are wishing to cut down their military orders in these times. However the testing goes on and no doubt the aircraft will be produced but not in the numbers originally hoped.
Then we were introduced to Frank Chapman, experimental test pilot, who explained how Airbus 380, number 1 is still flown regularly in continuing testing and that we were going to visit that aircraft this morning after the briefing. He mentioned how flight testing was so essential to sort out unexpected problems. For instance on rotation the aircraft fuselage flexes (bends!) and the pilots found the effect on the nose created a sudden ‘upspring’ that was disconcerting. So the computers were re programmed to rotate the aircraft in such a way the nose could not ‘flick up’ They also had to use the flight computers to eliminate wing twisting effects when the ailerons’ were applied on turns.
After that Xavier Lesceu, head of the A400M testing, a member of the Spanish Air Force co-opted to the Airbus development programme. He explained that the problems of building a military aircraft from the foundations of a civil aircraft programme are severe. Many systems are different and it has to fly high as well very low at ground level in all weather. Take off and landing needed on short and dirty strips. Very demanding for a design team.
We then split into two groups and were show Airbus380 No 1. One group inside and the other group outside, then change over. This Airbus is a ‘wired up’ machine simply full of computers testing everything from stress on every joint it seemed to the functionality of the flying systems and its six controlling computers. These computers check each other and tell the aircraft what to do as the pilot commands, but never let the aircraft go outside its flight envelope. Although the test pilots can and do override the system.
Some interesting observations came through questioning. They do test for stalling at 15000 ft ‘for real’ and had an emergency escape hatch fitted plus parachutes! The aircraft is very docile and does not drop a wing. The stalling speed is as low as 95 knots! All subject to weight of course. The 380 has no de-icing on its main frame except at the wing tips and on external measuring equipment. They spend a lot of time looking for and flying in large Cu Nimbs.
The Rolls Royce engines are very impressive when the cowlings are open. Just huge propellers with what seems to be a small engine in the middle. The UK also builds the wings, so the UK plays a very large part in the construction of the aircraft. The 380 fuselage is skinned with what appears to be one single metal skin around ribs. In fact this single skin is a double skin with a ceramic interface and is immensely strong but very light. It is these construction techniques that allow such a large aircraft to be built as using the old methods the airframe would be too heavy, probably to fly!
The AS than rejoined the bus, half an hour late, but no matter, for lunch at Le Club! Le Club is the guests luncheon room. An excellent lunch with superb French cooking of the highest quality, four courses including cheese and then coffee. Airbus testing staff joined the various tables. Peter Chandler, Head Civil Test pilot sat next to the writer and was a mine of information. He does a large number of the air displays. ‘On take off you simple apply full power, pull the flight stick hard right and back and the 380 just climbs at max climb turning in the direction pointed’. Limited to its envelope entirely by its computers! Such a display as watched from the ground is breath taking for such a large aircraft.
After lunch the AS was split into four groups to visit the simulators.
Frank Chapman showed us some videos of the actual testing done on a local military airfield with 10000 ft runway and no traffic. First test was to establish the minimum rotation speed before the aircraft will fly but the tail strikes the ground. This involved a tail skid hitting the ground and the minimum speed needed to get such a rotation. So the Airbus is rotated to maximum ‘Alpha’ angle with various c of g’s and weights without actually getting airborne. A video is placed under the fuselage and there are lots of sparks as the tail moves up and down while the speeds are collected by data sensors. The next video showed the evacuation trial of 800 passengers in one and half minutes. Yes it was done and the passengers were selected at random from staff in Germany and France. They were also statistically chosen from over 800 to make sure there sizes matched the expected match actually on board, large, small, big, bigger! The slides bust out and down the passengers streamed. One or two were visibly pushed as the higher slides are over 40feet up and that is intimidating for anyone!
The last video was the brake test. The Airbus must stop on its brakes alone fully loaded, all 500 tons, from V1 to standstill, and then taxi off the runway. The fire brigade must not action fire safety until 5 minutes have elapsed from standstill.! The video was taken from under wing over all three undercarriages. From the moment the brakes were applied with smoke streaming off the wheels, without the wheels actually skidding it was clear things were getting hot. When the aircraft finally stopped there was one shoot of flame around one brake but it went out itself. Then came the taxing off the runway and a pause while the fire brigade stands by doing nothing! At this stage the tyres get overheated by the kinetic energy on the internal air and the safety valves blow off one by one, the tyres flatten. They all bust but not into flame. The fire assistance just watches in case On this occasion one tyre actual blew up injuring one fire officer, causing some upset as this should not happen. The wheels brakes and tyres were replaced and the aircraft ready to go in twelve hours!
Then we went to the simulators
There are two types of simulators, the testing simulators and the training simulators. The testing simulators are linked to the ‘iron bird’. This was in fact an Airbus 400M on the ground with its wings folded back but otherwise with everything on it. The simulator is across the purpose building and connected to the iron bird. Everything the pilot does in the simulator is thrown across and acted on by the ‘iron bird’ exactly as in flight. This is used to test systems and the testing pilots can inject their ideas and needs into the iron bird that the design engineers then use to re- design or re- engineer.
The training simulators are complete with all movement and sound. I think twelve lucky AS members flew the 380, usually the right hand side taking off and the left hand side landing. Both appeared very easy but a lot of alarm bells were ringing all the time! Monsieur, le Capt Olivier (name not sure) knew the systems back to back and clearly enjoyed showing the various extremes of simulation. The writer flew the take off and after setting throttles at level 4 (the engines do the power calculation) with an immediate kick in the back that appeared to last with acceleration, all 380 tons took off on Heathrow 28R, rotating at 145kts, the sound was perfect, just enough engine noise to know they were running, the slight buffeting as we passed through some layer clouds, then a left turn at 1500 to ‘do a Heathrow circuit’. This time I was told to slam the control left to a 60deg turn, the 380 goes to 60deg quite quickly and then slowly overcomes the pilot and comes back to 30 deg, the correct rate of turn and settles down at 210 kts.! Below us on from the left window you can see the ‘reservoirs’. You are just flying out of Heathrow, but staying still! Amazing sensation.
Tom Storey flew the landing. Again the automatics take over as the Airbus settles down at 185 kts with 5deg glide slope, with Tom flying the ILS indicators. The beauty of the system is that the control stick appears neutral with no feed back, so if you are below the glide path just pull the stick back a little to decrease the rate of descent needle say pointing at 400 fpm descent and let go. Then the aircraft continues down at 400 fpm.still at 185kts. It takes a moment to get used to this but essentially the pilot is telling the computers what he wants. Then leave it to them. On landing the radar altimeter speaks loudly at 100feet and so on to 60 feet hand a slight flair and the simulator just bumps as you hit the runway, thrust reverse on and you pitch forward as the speed decreases.
The AS members then gathered again into the bus and were taken to the production line. This huge and purpose built building assembled six aircraft on one line at the same time. There is room for another line, the other half, but this is not used at the moment. And the end of the long walk through this tremendous hall, the members were gathered up into various smaller buses much relieved to put their feet up!
All in all a fantastic day seeing really modern high technology put to peaceful uses.
The Air Squadron entertained the Airbus test crew and executives at Le Pois Gourmand, a gorgeous restaurant set alongside the river bank in an lovely old house. Drinking ware suitably enscribed was given to Fernado Alonso, Frank Chapman and to Sophie Eustace, the lady in charge of hospitality and her assistant who did a superb job keeping the shuttle buses on time and generally seeing all went well.
Those who made it to Biarittz were received by a splendid lunch at Chez Albert, Biarritz on the sea front organised by Maxi Gainza. Note that name in your diary! (and mention Maxi!)
