Giant Airbus test flight for Wednesday morning

TOULOUSE, France, April 26 (AFP) – The new Airbus A380, the largest commercial airliner ever built, is to take off from Toulouse on its first test flight at around 10.30 a.m. Wednesday, co-pilot Claude Lelaie said Tuesday.  

“Take-off is scheduled for around 10.30,” he told France 3 Sud television.  

“We’ll be within a radius of 300 kilometres (188 miles) around Toulouse, probably toward the Pyrenees.”  

He said the flight, expected to be witnessed by more than 60,000 people as well as journalists from around the world, “could last several hours.”  

Aviation sources here said a flight of 4.5 hours was most likely.  

“There’s nothing really difficult about this flight,” Lelaie said. “The take-off is practically a non-event, apart from the fact that it’s very moving.”  

Lelaie will be joined at the controls by another veteran French test pilot, Jacques Rosay, backed up by a team of four navigators.  

The twin-deck A380 will be capable of carrying up to 800 people.

© AFP

Subject: French news