Boeing is testing the strenght of A350

Tests of the A 350 XWB, the latest offering from the Airbus stables are being conducted. Airbus is conducting these tests across a number of its plants and these are part of the development effort that is going to ensure the aircraft is ready for takeoff in about a couple of years from now. These tests are required in order to make sure that there is a high level of equipment maturity and absolutely error free performance when the plane is ready to take flight.

There is a great deal of rigor in the testing of the A350, which is quite reminiscent of the kind of testing that had taken place with the celebrated A380 earlier. The testing involves cockpit mockups, integration benches as well as various other iterations and simulations that are conducted by the engineering team. The Class 2 mock up of the cockpit of the prototype has already been tested and this will help to finalize and develop the flight deck layout. In addition to this, the Aircraft – 1 development simulator will help to fine tune the control laws which are all so important to the development of the aircraft.

The uniqueness about the cockpit testing is that it has authentic displays as well as vision system which means that you can fly the plane by way of testing. This has indeed been used for extensive testing with a view to validating control laws. In addition to this, the testing is able to ensure that the mechanical portions of the rig are well acclimatized and tested for all the stringencies that an actual flight would have to endure. There are many electrical as well as mechanical and hydraulic systems that need to get tested well too.

All of these tests, across stages of development of the aircraft go towards ensuring that the aircraft is truly air worthy and does justice to its engineers’ claims and designers’ expertise.