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Browsing Tag: Trent XWB

Photos & Video: First Airbus A350 XWB Starts Its Engines

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A350 XWB (MSN1) First Engine Run, Toulouse, France. Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB engines have run for the first time on the A350 XWB (MSN1) following the start-up of the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), as part of the preparations for the aircraft’s maiden flight. Photo by Airbus.

A350 XWB (MSN1) First Engine Run, Toulouse, France. Photo by Airbus.

On Sunday, The first Airbus A350-900 (MSN1) successfully completed starting up its engines, making it one step close to flight. Although Airbus is not stating when the A350 will have its first flight, many are hoping it will be in time for the Paris Air Show, which will run from June 17-23.

MORE: Photos + Video: First Airbus A350 Comes Out of Paint

When the first flight occurs there will be six crew members on-board: two flight test pilots, one test flight engineer and three flight test engineers. The two test pilots will be Peter Chandler, an Experimental Flight Test Pilot with Airbus since 2000 and Chief Test Pilot since 2011 and Guy Magrin, an Experimental Flight Test Pilot with Airbus since 2003 and Project Pilot for the A350 XWB.

Airbus plans to deliver the first A350-900 XWB in the second half of 2014 to its launch customer: Qatar Airways.