The Airbus C295 Flight Test Bed 2 (FTB2) has successfully performed its maiden flight from its final assembly line in Seville.
The aircraft now starts a flight campaign with the aim of testing the new semi-morphing wing, the new affordable flight control system, as well as a SatCom antenna embedded within the aircraft’s fuselage.
Francisco Javier Sánchez Segura, executive vice president engineering airbus defence and space, commented: “The first flight of the C295 FTB2 is a key milestone that represents an important step forward in the programme, following the successful integration of the new aero structures, power-on and ground tests. A few years ago this programme was just a dream of a more sustainable future for aviation. Today we are at the final stage and we finally made it fly.”
Based on the Airbus C295, the Flight Test Bed 2 is an in-flight demonstrator of the European Clean Sky 2 (CS2) and the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, where technologies related to CS2’s future regional multi-mission aircraft are tested. Read more