Monday 20 February

I was looking forward to leaving Toulouse for Singapore. The flight was like a vacation after the pressure of the test programme in Toulouse.

The A380 is at a turning point in the flight test programme. We have reviewed the entire aircraft, defined what should be done and now, little by little, we are implementing all the improvements and minor corrections.

Next phase is the certification phase. While we were on our way to Singapore, another A380 test aircraft flew for the first time. This represented one of the last major milestones as this aircraft is going to have a cabin installed in Hamburg and will be used for cabin tests. The flight from Toulouse to Singapore was great. We took the opportunity to test the automatic pilot and the navigation. Also evaluated on board instruments at night to check luminosity and lighting.

On the way, we met a violent storm, nothing rare in this part of the world known for its storms with very high clouds going all the way to 45 or 50 thousands feet.
The lightning strokes were very impressive, illuminating the whole sky. We could see the storm cells clearly on our radar screens and so were able to avoid them.

The flight over Egypt with its contrast between the yellow desert and the blue sea, the Red Sea with the Mount Sinai and the Aqaba gulf were just magnificent. Like a living geography lesson!

We landed in Singapore after some 12 hours of flight just before daybreak.