How a New Plane Is Tested Before It Carries Passengers

Years of Testing Before Day One

By the time you board, that type of plane has already been pushed to its limits. Engineers and test pilots have tested it on the ground and in the air. Here's some of what that involves.

Wings Bent to Breaking Point

The rules require an airliner's structure to carry one and a half times the biggest load it should ever meet in service.

Manufacturers prove it on the ground. In one famous test, engineers bent a Boeing 777's wings upward until they finally broke — at 154% of the maximum load expected in service. That's more than the rules require, and far beyond anything a real flight produces. Read why wings flex.

Thousands of Hours of Test Flights

Test pilots then fly new planes through everything imaginable. The Airbus A350, for example, used five test planes that flew more than 2,600 hours before it was approved.

They test take-offs with an engine shut down, landings in strong crosswinds, stopping with heavily worn brakes, and much more.

Extreme Heat and Cold

New planes are sent to the hottest and coldest places on Earth:

• Cold: the A350 was left to freeze overnight in Arctic Canada, then started and flown.
• Heat: it sat in the sun at 48 °C in the Middle East.
• Climate chambers: it was tested in a huge laboratory from –40 °C to +40 °C.

Engines Tested Separately

Engines go through their own punishing tests — including swallowing water, ice and birds — before they're approved. Read jet engines explained.

Then the Regulators Decide

Only when every test is passed do regulators such as EASA in Europe and the FAA in the US approve the plane. Even then, it's watched closely for its whole working life.

The Takeaway

The plane you're sitting in has already been through far worse than your flight will ever bring. It was tested to its limits, so you never have to be.

Sources

• FAA, 14 CFR 25.305 — Strength and deformation (the structure must support 1.5 times the limit load): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-25.305
• Boeing Images, 777 wing ultimate load test — the wings failed at 154%: https://secure.boeingimages.com/asset-management/2JRSXLJWZ6DO
• Airbus, Test and certification — A350 test campaign: five aircraft, more than 2,600 flight hours, hot and cold weather and climatic-chamber testing: https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/commercial-aircraft/the-life-cycle-of-an-aircraft/test-and-certification
• FAA, 14 CFR 33.76 — Bird ingestion (engine certification): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-33.76