A400M test flight

An interesting flight could be monitored on Feb. 28, 2011, thanks to Flightradar24: a test flight of the Airbus A-400M F-WWMT (which uses the Mode S and it is “seen” by ADS-B receivers) from Toulouse – Blagnac airport to Corse and return. The following screenshots were taken at 13.40Z, as the aircraft was flying at FL310 at 414KtsM, and at 14.16Z, as the plane was about to land at Toulouse (the track history shows the path followed by the multi-national four-engine turboprop transport aircraft).

On Feb. 15, Grizzly 1, as the A400M development is dubbed, had executed a series of AAR (air-to-air refuelling) trials using a RAF tanker operating from Toulouse, performing dry contacts with the VC10´s fuselage-mounted hose drum unit (HDU).

About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.