Following the announcement in October of another delay in the delivery of its A380 jumbojet and the subsequent resignations and replacement of two CEOs, Airbus Industrie (Toulouse, France) needed some good news. It came in two packages. The first was on Nov. 28, when the first whole wing for the A400M military transport was removed from its state-of-the-art assembly jig by overhead crane at Airbus UK (Filton, Bristol, U.K.). It is first-ever Airbus-built wing to be constructed largely from carbon fiber composites and is arguably the largest composite wing yet produced. The photo shows the left side (port) wingbox, which measures 23m/75.5 ft long, 4m/13.1 wide and weighs about 3 metric tonnes (6,614 lb). Airbus technicians carried out comprehensive measurements of the wing before beginning the equipping phase, when the wing will be fitted with hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical and fuel systems and flight-control surfaces. After equipping and full testing, the wings will be ferried to the A400M assembly line in Seville, Spain onboard the A300-600ST Beluga transport aircraft.
展开▼
