The A400M marks a new milestone on its way to civil type certification

Full-scale fatigue testing for Airbus Military’s A400M has been completed, meeting a requirement for this new-generation airlifter’s civil type certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). To date, the A400M test airframe at Dresden, Germany has undergone 1,665 simulated flight-cycles – which is approximately five-times greater than the number of flights expected to be performed annually by each A400M in operational service. By mid-2012, a total of 25,000 simulated flights will be performed with the test airframe.