Airbus' BLADE Laminar Flow Wing Demonstrator Makes First Flight

 Airbus’ A340 laminar-flow “BLADE” test demonstrator aircraft (A340-300 MSN001), also dubbed ‘Flight Lab’, has made its successful three hours plus maiden flight from Tarbes aerodrome in Southern France to Toulouse for the EU-sponsored Clean Sky “Blade” project.

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TOULOUSE, FRANCE.

The BLADE project – which stands for “Breakthrough Laminar Aircraft Demonstrator in Europe” – is tasked with assessing the feasibility of introducing the technology for commercial aviation. It aims to improve aviation’s ecological footprint, bringing with it a 50 per cent reduction of wing friction and up to five per cent lower CO2 emission. Airbus’ A340 Flight Lab is the first test aircraft in the world to combine a transonic laminar wing profile with a true internal primary structure.