Airbus has carried out ultimate load testing of the A350 wing, successfully taking it beyond stresses 1.5 times those it would ever expect to encounter.
The manufacturer says the test, performed on the static airframe, resulted in a wing-tip deflection of more than 5m (16ft).
Airbus performed the ultimate load testing as part of the certification programme for the A350-900.
The type’s fuselage passed ultimate load testing in early December 2013.
Airbus’s static airframe is fitted with thousands of strain gauges and other instruments to record and analyse the in-flight performance of the aircraft’s structure.
Certification of the A350 is scheduled for the third quarter of 2014 ahead of delivery and service entry in the fourth quarter.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
