A new plane flies today – live coverage of Airbus A350 AWB first flight

The old adage is “God willing, weather permitting”……..

If all goes well, we shall see the first flight of a brand new aircraft, the Airbus A350 XWB. Airbus indicates the A350 XWB first flight is planned for today, weather conditions permitting.

The A350 will be the first new commercial aircraft model, excluding variants of existing models, from the stables of the two behemoth airframers, Boeing and Airbus, in almost three and a half years.

The Boeing 787 made its first flight in December 2009. The last new aircraft from Airbus was the A380 double-decker super-jumbo which first flew in April 2005, over eight years ago.

The A350 XWB “MSN1” will take off from Toulouse-Blagnac airport at around 10:00 am local time (08:00Z, 13:30 IST). You can view live coverage on the special A350 first flight website starting from 07:00 UTC, 12:30 IST.

The A350 XWB is the all-new mid-size long range product line comprising three versions and seating between 270 and 350 passengers in typical three-class layouts.

In the mean time, three videos for your enjoyment. One an accelerated timeline of MSN1 being assembled, the second, the painting of MSN1, and the third explains the Rolls Royce Trent XWB, the most powerful engine on any Airbus aircraft till date, even more powerful than those on the A380.

You can also see the A350 performing its taxi testing earlier this week prior to the first flight.

About Devesh Agarwal

A electronics and automotive product management, marketing and branding expert, he was awarded a silver medal at the Lockheed Martin innovation competition 2010. He is ranked 6th on Mashable's list of aviation pros on Twitter and in addition to Bangalore Aviation, he has contributed to leading publications like Aviation Week, Conde Nast Traveller India, The Economic Times, and The Mint (a Wall Street Journal content partner). He remains a frequent flier and shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Indian aviation industry without fear or favour.

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