Jason Ford

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Aerospace

Test aircraft fly through ash cloud

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Test flights conducted by Airbus on 19 April have shown that an A340 and an A380 can fly through a cloud of volcanic ash without any irregularities.

Airbus said that it took advantage of scheduled development test flights to assess the impact of the ash cloud caused by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on the aircraft and their flight systems.

An Airbus A380 MSN 4, powered by four EA engines, and an A340-600 MSN 360, fitted with Rolls-Royce engines, took off at 14:25 and 14:50 (CEST) respectively from Toulouse airport.

The A380 MSN 4 operated up to FL300 (approximately 30,000ft or 9,100m) and landed at 18:00 after three hours and 50 minutes of flight in French airspace. Similarly, the A340-600 MSN 360 flew up to FL410 (around 40,000ft) and landed at 19:40 after five hours of flight in French and German airspace.

The experimental flight test crew observed aircraft and engine behaviours while in the ash cloud.

According to Airbus, the test crew did not notice anything abnormal and the post-flight inspection showed no irregularities.

Airbus has passed this information to engine manufacturers and airworthiness authorities to support them in evaluating safe conditions for flight.

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