Aircraft

Picture: Airbus’s CAD drawing of revised A350 XWB nose study

By Max Kingsley-Jones

This is the computer aided design (CAD) drawing of the Airbus A350 XWB’s forward fuselage from which Flight International has produced its rendition of the new nose shape being studied for the long-range twinjet.

The CAD drawing was shown to journalists last month by Didier Evrard, executive vice-president of the A350 programme, during the airframer’s annual technical press briefing in Toulouse.

It illustrates the A380 nose landing gear bay configuration that has been incorporated into the A350 as the manufacturer refines its design.

The graphic also shows that the A380’s six-window flight deck glazing configuration is being studied for the A350, which in all published images until now has featured a simpler but more angular four-panel layout.

Airbus confirms that the A380-inspired flight deck shape is “one of several studies” it is working on, but it has not yet frozen the design.

“There have been a number of trade-offs in the nose area, enabling us to maximise the volume of the cockpit and avionics bay while optimising aerodynamics and the positioning of the nose landing gear,” says Evrard.