How is the Airbus passenger plane "A350 XWB" made?

An airplane flying around the world carrying a lot of people is developed over many years and can be built up with hundreds of thousands of parts combined. A movie that summarizes the state that the actual airbus "A350 XWB" type machine is being made public is released.

How Airplanes Are Made - YouTube


The A350 XWB aircraft is the state-of-the-art medium-sized aircraft developed by Airbus, Europe's largest aircraft maker, and it was the first model in service to the line in January 2015. It is a fuselage that incorporates a lot of carbon material (carbon fiber) in the main structural part of the fuselage, such as the main wing, and is flying worldwide as aircraft with high efficiency and reliability.


An airplane is a vehicle used to ride a lot of people and reach from point A to point B faster than any other means. A state where such an airplane is made is introduced in the movie.


Henry Reich, creator of the YouTube channel "MinutesScience", in the fall of 2015, visited the factory of Airbus and photographed the site where the A350 is being manufactured.



More than 4000 staff members were introduced for development of the A350 ......


Over 7 years of development time has been spent.


In its development, much effort is spent on designing the aircraft as well as how it is manufactured.


Various factors are considered in the planning of the aircraft. Number of passengers accommodated ......


The cruising distance and the speed at which it actually fly are carefully examined.


And, the in-flight comfort and ... ...


One of the materials to consider how the actual handling will be carried out at the airport.


Design of the control system and ......


Engine fuel efficiency ...


And in the case of Airbus, how to connect production bases spread all over Europe becomes a big issue.


Computer simulation and model verification are repeated for aircraft design. This screen simulates the aerodynamic characteristics during flight and is performing experiments in the wind tunnel.



Validation using jet engines miniatures is also done.


All systems are tested and performance is evaluated. One such jet engine is actually installed.


A lot of tests are also done on the engine, but in that test there is also a test to make sure that the bird's carcasses are sucked into the running engine and "broken as expected". This is supposed to be a dangerous accident called "bird strike" that collides with birds around the airport.


When the design is completed, construction of the prototype will begin. Since the parts constituting the aircraft are as large as 2.5 million, the scale of the warehouse is also considerable.


Manufacturing is done at several bases. Some are made inside Airbus company ......


Some are manufactured by external suppliers such as jet engines.


In the case of A 350, the characteristic process is the wing manufacturing process.


The wing of the A 350 is made of carbon fiber with its top and bottom surfaces. Its production scenery is like huge machine that sticks carbon fiber fabric like tape.


After pasting the carbon tape, it is finished by applying pressure and heat in the huge oven "autoclave" where all the wings enter.


Once the carbon fiber is finished, the main structure of the wing is completed by combining with the framework made of metal.


Next, wiring of hydraulic system, fuel system, electric system is done by human hand.


Painted ......


Shiny wings are completed.


"Vertical tail wailing to the aircraft" is manufactured in the state of being laid like this ... ...


It will be completed at the end.


In parallel, manufacturing of fuselage torso can also proceed.


"Pressure bulkhead" attached to the rear part of the aircraft is made of carbon fiber. It is one of the main structure which is indispensable for comfort and safety of the aircraft.


When you paste the floor and paste the insulation material on the side wall, it gets little by little like a passenger aircraft.


The fuselage is then transported to the factory where the final assembly takes place.


It is a dedicated transport machine that is used only for carrying parts of passenger aircraft. The body called "Beluga" has a large upper part of the fuselage bulging and it is designed to load a huge fuselage as it is.


Upon arrival at the assembly factory, I drop the torso again ......


An airplane is made by pumping parts manufactured in various places.


Installation of the landing gear is also at this stage. It seemed pretty airplane.


At the base of the tail wing, APU (auxiliary power unit) is installed.


Vertical tail wings were also brought in and joined to the aircraft ......


Horizontal tail wings with integrated right and left are joined by inserting them horizontally. It's just like a plastic model.


And the heaviest and most expensive engine in the aircraft is installed at the final stage of assembly of the aircraft.


The aircraft is nearly completed if it comes so far. What will be done next ... ...


It is an actual flight test. Several aircraft are introduced in the flight test, and various inspections are progressed at the same time.


There are numerous cables inside the testing machine ......


Various monitoring equipment is installed.


The testing machine fly around the world and inspect the performance in all kinds of environments. I tried skipping in the winter's extremely cold land ......


On the contrary, check whether it works properly even in the burning desert.


Performance evaluation in a thin high altitude air is also an important test item.


Sometimes we test watering artificially on the runway and test whether there is no problem even if the engine inhales water.


Also conducted "Tail Strike" test where the aircraft's tail comes into contact with the runway during takeoff.


To inspect the strength of the wing, an inspection that actually pulls the wing with a large force is also done.


In addition to the performance evaluation at the testing machine, all the aircraft actually manufactured are also shipped after conducting the test flight.



It will be handed over to the customer only after it is confirmed that all the items are working properly.


When the production of the A350 begins in earnest, 10 aircraft are to be assembled per month.


This means that every 2 days new A 350 will be generated from the line.


Reich, who actually visited Airbus, had a glimpse of the fact that specialists in various fields are involved in the development and manufacture of the A350. In addition to engineering of the aircraft itself, engineers specialized in control ... ...


Production equipment specialists etc as well.


And engineers who specialize in wind tunnel experiments ......


There were also specialists specializing in carbon fiber recycling.


The work of such people has become fruit and an airplane that connects every place in the world is made.