Meet the A350 first flight test crew - the priviledge few!

In this edition, we’ll present the three men in the cockpit: the two pilots and the project test flight engineer. Learn more about 'Three men in the cockpit' and check back in the coming weeks for more on the rest of the First flight crew.


Peter Chandler: Chief Test Pilot

A flight test pilot for Airbus since joining the company in 2000, Peter Chandler can trace his fascination with aircraft back to a basic sciences teacher who showed his young students how airflow over and around a wing enabled a plane to fly. “We were all maybe 10-years old and whilst I don’t think I was the only one to understand the concept,” Peter said, “I may have been the only one to find it interesting.”

As a teenager, he joined a local Air Cadets programme and had the opportunity to fly light aircraft. Later, he flew more regularly as he studied aeronautical engineering at Southampton University in England. After receiving his degree, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1975, where he principally flew ground-attack aircraft. Wanting to become a test pilot, he applied for and was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California. After graduation, Peter spent the rest of his RAF career as a test pilot and instructor.

Watch him speak about being the first pilot here!
See more videos of Capt Chandler here!


Guy Magrin: Project Test Pilot

Guy Magrin is a test pilot who has been involved with the A350 XWB programme since the very beginning. “At the start, you felt you were on a team of 50-60 people, but that’s completely wrong,” he said. “Later on, I went to the production line, I saw all those people working on the aircraft and I realised that it’s a huge piece of work by thousands and thousands of people.”

Born in Dijon, France, Guy wanted a career that would be both physically and intellectually challenging. He remembered watching fighter jets flying overhead when he was younger and thought being a fighter pilot would be perfect, so he joined the French Air Force.

After graduating from flight school, Guy would eventually progress all they way up to squadron leader. Then, he graduated from the test pilot programme and spent the rest of his military career as a test pilot.

In 1989, he became a commercial airline pilot, flying A320s and A330s for the next 14 years.

Shortly after joining Airbus in September 2003, Guy was assigned to the A350 programme as the project pilot where he said his primary role was working on the design of the cockpit. “I think my years as a commercial airline pilot help me understand the needs of the end-users, the pilots who will fly this aircraft every day.”

As for the upcoming ‘first flight,’ he finished up by saying, “Every pilot dreams his whole life of making the first flight on a prototype – I will never forget this experience.”

Watch him speak about being the first pilot here!
See more videos of Capt Magrin  here!


Pascal Verneau: Project Test Flight Engineer

 Pascal Verneau has come a long way from being a 10-year old boy ‘fixing’ his grandfather’s tractor to being the project test flight engineer of the A350 XWB programme.

Growing up in Tours in central France, he watched pilots taking off from a nearby training base and thought, “They’re having more fun up there than I’m having down here on ground. I’m going to try and do that.” But Pascal didn’t like school; he preferred discovering how mechanical things worked. And when he learned that pilots had to do a lot of studying, he decided he would rather become an aircraft mechanic, just like a cousin of his.

After receiving his certificate in aircraft mechanics, he joined the French Air Force in 1981 as a maintenance technician. At this point, he had developed a love of learning. He took evening courses for seven years, receiving his degree in engineering in 1987. In 1988, he received a helicopter flight crew qualification for search and rescue missions. And in 1995 he graduated from the Ecole du Personnel Navigant d’Essais et de Réception (EPNER) as a flight test engineer. He has held a pilot licence since 1996.

Pascal joined Airbus’ flight test division in 1999 and participated in the development tests of the A340-600. He then became aircraft manager for the second flight test A380 and has since flown 3,300 hours on the A380. In 2007, he was appointed to his current position in the A350 XWB programme. As such, he is again the aircraft manager, the focal point for issues between the design office engineers and the flight test crew.

Watch him speak about being the first pilot here!
See more videos of Flt Engr Verneau here!

Will keep you posted on the profile of Patrick Du Che - Head of Development flight tests; Emanuele Costanzo - Flight test Engineer and Fernando Alonso - Head of flight Operations.

Source, Pictures and videos: Airbus