A350XWB campagne certification

The next step is to fulfill flight requirements needed to secure the maximum range for extended twin-engine operations, or Etops, which governs how far planes with only two turbines can fly from the nearest diversionary airport and is a key limiting factor for trans-oceanic services.

Over the next two weeks the A350 will perform six or seven more long-range flights over water, Alonso said, initiating power and systems failures to show it can fly for seven hours on one engine. The longest current Etops range of 5 1/2 hours was granted to the Boeing 787-8 variant in May.
 
Once A350 tests are complete Airbus will focus on the A320neo program, with the first trials involving a re-engined version of the single-aisle jet planned for September.

While the A350 will receive extended operations clearance of 180 minutes upon certification, the ultimate aim for Airbus is that the aircraft will be able to fly virtually unrestricted anywhere around the world.


A350 project test pilot Frank Chapman said the flight plans for Johannesburg-Sydney and Auckland-Santiago de Chile –during the route proving 3^rd flight- were not restricted by extended operations regulations given they were test flights with only crew and technical staff on board.

But Chapman explained Airbus was working on eventually securing 420-minute ETOPS restrictions for operators of the aircraft. This would mean, apart from a few routes over the north and south poles, the A350 would have no restrictions on where it could fly, Chapman said.
 

A 420-minute ETOPS would mean the aircraft would be approved to fly for 7 hours on one engine in the event of an engine failure.

Extended operations, or ETOPS, rules restrict how far an aircraft can fly from the nearest airport.
Over the next 2 weeks the A350 will perform six or seven more long-range flights over water, Alonso said, initiating power and systems failures to show it can fly for seven hours on one engine. 

PhilDur a écrit:ETOPS 420 ? c'est pour pouvoir survoler la mer de la Tranquilité ?

Rolls-Royce reports smooth operation of the Trent XWB-84 during A350 flight testing.
“So far engine performance has been really good and reliable,” says Trent XWB Program Director Simon Burr, who notes that the single unplanned removal to date was a precautionary move to replace a faulty oil level sensor.
...

With the bulk of testing over, Rolls is focused on endurance-running to support ETOPS clearance—targeted at 420 min. from entry into service for the A350-900.

The work, conducted at Rolls’s  “60 bed”  facility at the NASA Stennis site in Mississippi, is aimed at demonstrating reliability across 3.000 simulated flight cycles. 
...

The engine returned to Derby for tear down and inspection some weeks ago, following completion of a 3rd —and final—simulated diversion cycle.

ETOPS testing included runs at 30 min. per cycle. “We have been doing 60 cycles a day and ran through difficult weather for 43 hours continuously,” says Burr.

Admin a écrit:ETOPS 500 ça sera pour le remplaçant du SR71 ou de l'U2 pour ses vols au dessus de la nouvelle URSS