AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COMAPRIL 2015 |^27
Interview – Peter Chandler z
In a new series, Aerospace Testing
International talks to the industry’s
leading chief test pilots about their
experiences, their projects and their achievements. First
in the captain’s seat is Peter Chandler, chief test pilot for
Airbus, on the latest from the A350 test programBY CHRISTOPHER HOUNSFIELDPrincipal
I
t is nearly two years since the A350
made its maiden flight on a balmy
day in Toulouse back in June 2013.
The flight was the culmination of a
determined effort by Airbus to
challenge Boeing’s leadership in the
long-haul aircraft market. Those efforts
continue, with MSN2, one of five A350
XWB test aircraft, most recently
appearing at Munich International
Airport at the end of February, as it
concluded a world airport tour to drive
sales. To date, the new medium-
capacity, long-range, wide-body aircraft
has racked up an incredible 780 orders
from 40 customers worldwide.
It was following its maiden flight
that Peter Chandler, chief test pilot
for Airbus, who was captaining the
prototype aircraft as part of a six-man
crew, explained: “It just seemed really
happy in the air... all the things we
were testing had no major issues at all.”
I first met Peter Chandler on the
inaugural flight of the A380, nearly a
decade ago. And although not taking
part on the first flight, he was integral
to the test flying and development of
the aircraft.THE PILOT
Although not unique, it is still quite
unusual to have a career jump like
Chandler’s: “I started off as a pilot inthe Royal Air Force originally flying
Buccaneers and then Tornados, and
then went to test flying within the
RAF. I did the test pilot course with
the US Air Force as an exchange pilot. I
came back and spent another five years
or so test flying and instructing in the
Air Force [Empire Test Pilots’ School].
Then at the end of my time in the RAF,
I left and joined an airline, so I went to
Virgin Atlantic just as an ordinary
airline pilot and ended up as a captain
on A340s and then the opportunity
came to go to Airbus and carry on,
and go back to test flying, but in a new
role with commercial airplanes instead
of fighters.”
As well as serving in the RAF 20
years, Chandler has now been with
Airbus for 15 years and even before
then began work on the A340-600 as
part of an airline working group. It was
then that the development work
began on the A380: “I saw the A380
program right through from when it
was first launched, through the flight
testing and into service. And as that
was finishing testing, the A350 was
starting in terms of development, so it
followed straight on into that. So the
major programs for me have been the
A340-500/600 and then the A380
and the A350. I have flown a bit on
the A400M, but it’s not really mymain project so I don’t know quite
so much about that.”THE TECHNOLOGY
The A340-500 cockpit technology
Chandler first worked on years ago
has moved forward. Now, as a civil
test pilot, what are the biggest changes
he has noticed ‘up front’? Less than
might be expected: “In terms of the
cockpits and the way that the pilots
operate, it has been... I wouldn’t say
a slow evolution... but it has been a
evolutive process because from the
[A]320, 330, 340 which had virtually
identical cockpits, we put a new
cockpit into the 380, which actually
retained a lot of the elements from the
original airplanes, but it introduced
much more intuitive interfaces. So we
have, say, a cursor trackball system
interface with the flight management
systems; most of the functions are done
with point-and-click and drop-down
menus, rather than little screens with
line select keys.
“We have electronic documentation
rather than paper documentation, which
of course is now coming in on all the
aircraft, in many cases just through
iPads, but it was fairly revolutionary
when it came in with the 380. And
then the 350 has basically been
another evolution from the 380, so theproject pilot