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… / Fernando's air show diary

Asian Aerospace 2006

Fernando Alonso

A380 flight test engineer

Fernando shares parts of his diary with us throughout the Asian Aerospace air show.

Saturday 25 February

25 February 2006

Today, the usual visits and demo. Bright weather and really high temperature. Then we performed engine ground runs for two hours on two different sites for Changi airport.

Friday 24 February

24 February 2006

A constant stream of visitors for the A380. I feel like the numbers increase as the week goes! After the demonstration flight, the aircraft is rolled to a Changi airport gate to perform tests.

Thursday 23 February

23 February 2006

As the week goes on, the team’s spirit remains good and that is one thing that really helps in air shows like this. Because the interest of visitors for the A380 shows no sign of flagging and today for example I’m sure we received at least 250 people in the aircraft.

Wednesday 22 February

22 February 2006

Another long day for us. Another flight display. The A380 is behaving really well and everyone likes it. Flying in the A380 over Singapore and the air show, no one has time to watch the scenery. It’s a flight we have rehearsed many times but you need to be concentrated all the time. The pilots fly t...

Tuesday 21 February

21 February 2006

Second day of the show and a very long day too !

Left the hotel at 7 in the morning to avoid traffic and arrive on time at the air show. Visits started at 9 a.m. Lots of visitors between 9 and 12, at least 100 people including officials, the Pakistan Minister of Defense, the Spanish Ambassador, IA...

Monday 20 February

20 February 2006

I was looking forward to leaving Toulouse for Singapore. The flight was like a vacation after the pressure of the test programme in Toulouse. The A380 is at a turning point in the flight test programme. We have reviewed the entire aircraft, defined what should be done and now, little by little, we a...