Author: Gareth

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A350 certification process answers

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Here are the answers to last Friday’s video, enjoy!

Suggested ICAO level for video: 5+

  1. He says that it’s just the half-way point for its entry into service with an airline
  2. There are 3 certification phases; the testing before the plane flies, the flight tests, and the route proving is the final phase.
  3. Five planes were needed because there were so many tests to do and Airbus wanted to keep the program on schedule.
  4. The plane was tested under very cold weather conditions, high operating altitudes, high airports and hot weather conditions. Test were also done to the structure, aerodynamics and brakes.
  5. This phases involves proving that the plane can be operated in a normal airline environment; carrying passengers, servicing the plane, doing short and long flights with normal turnaround times and operating in a variety of airport and environmental conditions.
  6. 2,500 documents.
  7. September 2014, so they were able to maintain their schedule exactly as they planned.

As an extra activity, try taking about the certification process for the A350, record yourself and listen to check your mistakes. Use some new vocabulary that you heard from the video.

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A350 certification process

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With last week’s A320neo maiden flight and this week’s A350 certification, Airbus certainly has a lot happening at the moment! To keep up with that, here’s an interesting video that describes the certification process of the A350.

Try to answer the following questions about the video and come back on Monday for the answers.

Suggested ICAO level: 5+

Have a great weekend!

  1. What does the narrator say about the first flight of a new jet?
  2. How many phases does the certification process have? What are they?
  3. Why were five A350s needed in the testing phase?
  4. What are some of the environmental ‘limits’ that the plane was tested under?
  5. What is ‘route proving’, the final phases that the A350 had to go through?
  6. How many documents were scrutinised by the aviation authorities before giving the aircraft its certification?
  7. When did Airbus promise to have the certification for the A350?

A350 XWB is ‘Good to go’ as it obtains its certification

The A350 XWB received its Type Certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on 30th September 2014, which paves the way for the jetliner’s planned first customer delivery to Qatar Airways in the fourth quarter.

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Luggage problem

Here’s the text to the listening from yesterday.

Enjoy!!

An Airbus A320, with 113 people on board, was cruising at FL350 when the crew was informed by airport authorities on the ground, that there was a luggage irregularity. They didn’t know how, but a piece of luggage was able to get onboard the aircraft without its owner. Jet fighter aircraft were sent to accompany the aircraft back to its airport of origin where it landed safely about 25 minutes later. The aircraft was searched but no explosives were found.

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Luggage problem

Listen to this recording and try to write what your understand. You should try to write everything that is said.

You can listen as many times as you want.

Check below the recording for some of the difficult words and come back and check the full text from this recording tomorrow.

Suggested ICAO level: 3+

Have a great day!

Difficult words:

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The A320neo

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A320neo first flight
A320neo taking off on its first flight.

The first thing to know about the A320neo is that the ‘neo’ means, new engine option. The engines are more efficient on the A320neo, but that’s not the only thing that’s different. The plane is lighter and has aerodynamic improvements. It has larger curved winglets and bigger overhead storage bins. It also has nine more seats on the aircraft than the current A320 which means that the A320neo consumes 20% less fuel per seat.

Of course, Airbus is also building the A319neo, which has four more seats and the A321neo, which has twenty more seats than the current version. The maiden flight for A320neo was on September 25th 2014 in Toulouse, France, but Airbus started the planning for this plane in 2006 as an enhanced version of A320. They planned improvements to the engines and other parts of the plane. They created new winglets, now called ‘sharklets’, which they started to use in 2012.

The most obvious change to the cabin is the larger overhead storage bins for passengers and (optionally) the ability to change the colour of the cabin lighting. There are also improvements to the air purification system, and weight reductions in the galley.

So far, Airbus has more than 3,000 orders for the aircraft and it might become their best selling aircraft ever. The company hopes to deliver over 4,000 A320neos over 15 years and it is already the fastest selling commercial plane in history.

Exercise
To practice your speaking, you should try to talk about the new A320neo for between 60 – 90 seconds. Record yourself speaking and listen to it. Can you hear any simple mistakes that you know are incorrect? Try recording it again, did you improve your speaking the 2nd time?

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A320neo maiden flight

This week’s video is about the maiden flight of the A320neo which took place recently in France. But how much do you know about the A320neo? Try to find out as much information as you can from around the internet and come back on Monday to read a short text about it.

Suggested ICAO level: 3+

Relive the A320neo’s historic first flight

A “new” leader in single-aisle efficiency took to the skies for the first time on 25 September 2014 with the maiden flight of Airbus’ A320neo (new engine option) jetliner. Step “on-board” the no. 1 NEO aircraft with flight test crew and experience the sights and sounds of this historic day in Airbus’ “best of” video.