14 October 2012

A350 XWB Vertical Tail Plane for MSN001 being painted in Toulouse

As twitted by David Kaminski ("Air transport editor for Flight International, and future camel owner") the Vertical Tail Plane, shipped from Stade (Germany) to the FAL in Toulouse some days ago, is being painted in Airbus colours.

It will be ready for the official FAL opening ceremony of next 23/October.
The question is, installed in the Rear Fuselage?  I don´t think so.

The VTP-section19 installation process will be the second time that is performed in the FAL, as for the Static Specimen, the VTP dummie has the same interface as MSN001. And the VTP junction done last August allowed testing in nominal conditions the new concept of interface for Airbus in comparison with previous programs since it is structural attachment using titanium fittings as well as tensile and shear bolts. Early to say it is a mature process but it is not the first time to be done.

But the fuselage junction activities around section 19 (rear fuselage) can not allow the Vertical Fin installation since all fuselage tasks have been completed. And the fuselage power-on is just the previous activity to be done before the empennage installation.

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