A 380
Production

TransitionSpecificationsTransition

   First flight
The first flight of the A380 took place on April 27, 2005 at 10:29 on the Toulouse Blagnac airport. The aircraft carried a crew composed by 6 persons (two pilots, an engineer-sailing and three engineers), was devoid of seats in the cabin but was filled with ballast water, supposed to simulate the weight of passengers and check the stability the aircraft and effectiveness of controls. The aircraft also carried some twenty tons of control equipment to conduct a series of tests during the flight.
First flight

Although the aircraft was at only 75% of its maximum take-off weight, the 421 tons of the aeroplane set the take-off world record.
During the 3:51 flight, the crew was able, at a maximum altitude of about 10 000 feet (3 000 meters), test the flaps, the speed and flight controls, and the balance of the aircraft.

The aircraft landed on Concorde runway after welcoming the 40 000 spectators.