Airbus Military's fourth A400M transport made its first sortie on 20 December.
The flight from Seville, Spain was commanded by Klaus-Dietrich Flade, whose crew comprised second pilot Christophe Cail and four flight engineers.
Dubbed Grizzly 4, the aircraft will be used mainly for cargo and air-to-air refuelling tests and carries a medium instrumentation load. It had a weight of 130t on its 5h 10min flight.
© Airbus Military |
A fifth aircraft is to join the 3,700h flight-test programme, with the first delivery planned in about two years' time.
So far, just over 1,000 flight hours have been accumulated in 300 sorties since the first flight on 11 December 2009.
Source: Flight International