A400M Gears Up For Unprepared Runway Trials

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awx/2010/07/23/awx_07_23_2010_p0-243209.xml

Airbus Military in the next few days expects to commence trials to land the A400M airlifter on unprepared runways, in the first significant step to validate some of the transport’s military performance.

The first step is for the A400M, now christened the Grizzly, to land on a runway near Toulouse, France, with chalk pellets. Those are to show how stones would ricochet and impact the A400M’s fuselage, in advance of real landings in austere environments, says Fernando Alonso, head of flight testing for Airbus.