on December 11, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. local time. The President of Spain inaugurated the flight along with members of the other purchasing nations of the much anticipated A400M. Chief Test Pilot Military, Edward "Ed" Strongman captained the 3 hour and 47 min flight supported by Experimental Test Pilot Ignacio "Nacho" Lombo.

Content with the success of the initial flight, Chief Pilot Strongman shared, “We have had a very successful first flight - the take-off performance was impressive, we explored a lot of the operational flight envelope, and it was a delight to operate in such a well-designed cockpit with its easy interface to all the normal and military systems. I'm sure our customer pilots are really going to like it - we certainly did."

DREAM DESIGN

This ultimate flying machine is designed to fly altitudes and speeds like a jet, yet tackle terrain and land similar to a chopper. Designed for a maximum takeoff weight of 141 tonnes, the test flight of A400M pulled off 127 tonnes, including 15 tonnes of test equipment and two tonnes of water ballast. As part of the test flight, the six-man crew extensively explored the aircraft's flight envelope in direct law. This included flying at a wide speed-range, testing the landing gear and the high-lift devices at certain altitude. Designed in over 30 years, the A400M is made to carry all loads and vehicles in the European Staff Requirement (ESR) inventory, serve as an aerial delivery platform, act as an in-flight refueller for both fast jets and helicopters; and most importantly aimed to replace current military aircraft carriers.

FLIGHT POSSIBLE

Yet, does it have a future? Although the A400M may be capable of excellent take off and landing; unfortunately it may not have many chances to do either. Due to its unstable financial state and inability to maintain delivery deadlines, the A400M project seems to be losing its participating partners who have placed orders for the ‘future large aircraft’.

As Airbus’ CEO Tom Enders said at the inaugurating flight of the A400M, "I hope we can soon provide certainty that we are able to continue the A400M programme. This is expected by those at Airbus, our partners and suppliers worldwide who contributed so strongly to today's success as well as by the air forces who wait for their plane."

So, what led to the influx of concern of A400M’s current state of “barely staying alive” and its delivery future? First of all, signing a fixed price contract at a time where the economy is anything but predictable or stable. The additional factors which have kept the A400M grounded are the holdups in its engine development project, cost overrun, and of course on time delivery. Yet, experts and countries backing the programme still believe in its success as the product does speak for itself. As the case with any major technological advancement project, which has taken over 30 years to design and develop, there are bound to be glitches; and in the modern world those glitches normally revolve around money rather than inefficiency. So, as the A400M completes it required 3,700 test hours prior to its entry-into-service at the end of 2012, the interested parties can get ready to enjoy the fruits of their labour.