FlightBlogger - Airbus A380 Trent XWB (A350) Testbed - November 10, 2011

[larson380]

Guys, on this video you can notice the aircraft is under WP (Working Party) which means works and mechanical remove etc. During WP regular seats are removed in order to not damage them cause many people move and work in the cockpit at this time.

Before the FF, regular (nice) seats will be reinstall

[oniro91]

most stupid thing i've ever seen look the seat it's broken.....7 lcd screens on the cockpit and i use a toy for the trottle??? pretty lameXC

[TheLeeqeend]

i didnt understand him( sry im not a native engish speaker)

[arsenium666]

Check the seat "quality"...lol

That coming from the main Airbus fan

; )

[yvesgomez]

That's what we call in french "Système D"

[Archie23rulz]

Wow, epic cool video. I like how he keeps saying very easy. I feel that I can fly it now! ;)

[juthale]

I don't know how the thrust levers work for other engine testbed aircraft, but that mechanical clap-trap connection between the two quadrants looks seriously out to lunch. Why not just integrate the number 3 engine into the existing number 3 thrust lever? The connection to the engine itself is just a digital FADEC control signal. I find it hard to believe making the existing control work would be any more difficult to achieve than the jerry-rigged setup they are showing us here.

[jostrower]

@juthale Great question. While I'm not positive about this, not integrating the Trent XWB software into the A380 allows Airbus to be able to isolate the A350's EEC in flight without changing anything on the test bed. Also, having the real throttle quadrant allows for proving out the full hardware-software interface on the flight deck. I guess the one element of this that doesn't make sense, would be the thrust reverser positioning. It appears that it has been integrated with the A380.

[juthale]

@jostrower You are likely right, Jon. It makes sense the EEC and what will be extensive test instrumentation are independent of A380 systems. Perhaps to truly isolate every element of the setup, they are forced into a mechanical link in the control rather than running EPR settings through the A380 systems. The camera doesn't pan the cockpit, but that makes me wonder if they have set up an axillary ECAM display to monitor TrentXWB parameters, or if it is indicated on the A380 ECAM display?

[hawkboy000]

woow. great video

[shamrock767]

Nice one, thanks!

[Dutchbird757]

Very interesting. Thanks!

[upiluften]

I remember when the GE 747 was rolling around with the GEnx. Really cool to see the A380 carrying around the 350s engine.

[MrBryan86]

Are they testing the engine that is going to be used in the a350??

[ursjan]

@MrBryan86 Yeah, of course.

[techdefined]

@MrBryan86

Yes, and also maybe one day on the A380-900.