Beluga XL, the new whale of the sky

A smiling whale-shaped fuselage, the Beluga XL, the new cargo plane of the Airbus family, took to the air Thursday morning in Blagnac (France) for its first test flight.

The take-off of the aircraft triggered a thunderous applause in an audience of more than 10,000 people, mainly employees and subcontractors of the European aircraft manufacturer, who were waving flags to the glory of the new (big) baby of the aeronautical group.

« Today we discover the machine, » said Beluga XL programme director Bertrand George with a broad smile.

Even jubilation, at the landing of the aircraft, 4 hours and 12 minutes later, when the « Airbusians » gathered on the tarmac cheered the crew in orange suits.

« It’s a lot of emotion, our teams have been working on it for years, it’s a beautiful machine. We expect a lot and everything went well, » captain Christophe Cail told.

« We went up in configuration (trains extended) until 8.000 meters, we checked the systems« , specified the test pilot adding that the plane then reached its cruising altitude « at 32.000 feet (9.700 m) and pushed at its maximum speed of Mach 0,7 (830 km/h) ».

During this loop of more than four hours, the Beluga XL flew over the Pyrenees, then took the direction of the Cevennes, then the Mediterranean before returning to Toulouse.

The only downside to this day was that the Beluga ST number 1, which was also on a demonstration flight, had to make an emergency landing, an alarm having gone off, Airbus said, adding that the incident was « not serious ».

The smiling whale 

The Beluga XL’s resemblance to the white whale whose name it bears is accentuated by cetacean eyes and a broad smile painted on the giant cabin. A decoration that was decided by a vote of the group’s employees.

The Airbus A330-743L Beluga XL will gradually replace the current Beluga ST from 2019 to transport parts of its smaller brothers in the Airbus range between the various production sites of the European group.

This new aircraft is necessary to meet the « ramp-up » requirements, particularly with the production of the new long-haul A350 XWB, a latest-generation aircraft that relies heavily on composite materials, explained the program director.

« Today we are transporting the wings of the A350 XWB one by one, tomorrow we will be transporting the wings two by two. It will enable us to improve the economy of our airline company  » he added.

Thus, the hold of the new giant of the air gained weight compared to its predecessor, with 6 meters more in length and one meter in width.

A transport capacity up by 30%, with the possibility of digesting a cargo of 51 tonnes over a distance of 4,074 kilometres.