“Family flight” – Five Airbus A350 XWBs together in flight

Video from the channel Airbus about Airbus A350, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 6:31. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.

Manufacturer footage of the formation flight of the five Airbus A350 test aircraft that took part in the flight-test campaign. It shows the pre-flight briefings, in which the pilots set positions and visual references (the lead aircraft's door aligned with the engine fairing, the winglet tip), the order of the diamond, echelon and arrowhead formations, and a 180-degree turn over the sea. The aerial footage is filmed from a helicopter.

According to the participants, the flight took place the day before certification. With poor weather, the aircraft took off one after another at 10:30 from runway 14 right. There were clouds at around 4,000 feet, and the working area began above flight level 60.

It was the first time the five prototypes had flown together, something very unusual for the manufacturer. The programme was designed with as few formation changes as possible. The rendezvous was carried out at 250 knots with 1,000 feet of vertical separation until visual contact was established. Since many of the pilots came from air forces and armed services of different countries, a common terminology was agreed to avoid misunderstandings in the air.