Airbus A350 XWB — вершина европейского авиастроения

Video from the channel Авиасмотр about Airbus A350, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 22:07. Video type: Documentary.

Russian-language documentary from the Aviasmotr channel on the origin and technical features of the Airbus A350 XWB. It explains why Airbus had to launch an all-new aircraft and reviews its versions, materials and engines.

Airbus was founded in 1970 as a European consortium and started with the A300, the first twin-engine wide-body aircraft. The gradual extension of the allowed diversion time to an alternate airport (from 60 to 90 minutes, then two and later three hours) opened oceanic routes to twin-engine aircraft, which explains the success of the A330 and the Boeing 777. Around the turn of the century Airbus bet on the A380, while Boeing announced the 787 Dreamliner in 2003, which gathered around 450 orders in three years, and began delivering the 777-300ER in 2004. By the mid-2000s the A340 had lost appeal and the A380 was suffering cost overruns and delays. An initial proposal for a lightened A330 did not convince. In December 2004 the name A350 appeared for a heavily modernized A330, with new engines and a composite wing: Qatar Airways ordered 60 at the 2005 Paris Air Show, but no other customer followed. In December 2006 Airbus launched the A350 XWB as an entirely new design.

The first flight took place on 14 June 2013 at Toulouse-Blagnac with prototype MSN1: it lasted 4 hours 5 minutes and reached about 7,600 m and Mach 0.8. A week later it flew over the Le Bourget air show. The flight-test campaign planned for 2,500 hours with five aircraft in 12 months. At the first flight there were 613 orders from 33 customers, rising to 780 when Qatar Airways received the first aircraft in December 2014. The A350-900 carries between 300 and 350 passengers up to 15,300 km. The A350-800 was cancelled in September 2014. The A350-1000 flew on 24 November 2016, carries between 350 and 410 passengers, and its range grew from 14,500 to 16,100 km. Qantas will use it on nonstop flights between Sydney and London.

53% of the structure's mass is composite material. Wingspan was limited to 65 m and the wings are built at a new plant in Broughton. Rolls-Royce is the exclusive engine supplier with the Trent XWB: 38 tonnes of thrust on the -900, with a three-metre fan and 22 titanium blades, and 44 tonnes on the -1000. By spring 2023 more than 960 had been sold and around 520 delivered. Planned additions include the A350F freighter, with up to 109 tonnes of cargo capacity, and a possible A350neo with the UltraFan engine.