Airport Blagnac (LFBO), Toulouse, France. A historic place. This is where the first Concorde took off on 2 March 1969 commanded by Andre Turcat. The biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 flew for the first time also from here on 27 April 2005. These days, Blagnac is Airbus’ main base, all new-born aircraft built in Toulouse take to the air for the first time from here.
This time, there is an A320 rolling on taxiway Sierra. On board is a very enthusiastic little troop whose hard work over the previous six days is about to bear fruit. In the left seat is our Technical Captain, in the right seat your’s truly! I am being honored by being part of a “delivery flight”, the taking home of a freshly produced Wingair airplane.
For most of the team the story started already on Wednesday. The technical acceptance (requiring 8-10 hours of work per day) and delivery test flight as well as the official certification of the aircraft have been completed. I joined the others only on Monday, arriving late in the evening from London on an EasyJet flight. I dropped my gear at the hotel, went to our favorite restaurant to grab a bite and afterwards took a nostalgic walk around the inner city. I sought out the places I discovered and came to like a year earlier when we were there for the type conversion course. Toulouse is a livable town. It is characterized by little streets, nice red brick buildings, special micro-climate, the nearness of the River Garonne, a navigable network of channels and extremely friendly people.
Around nine this morning we are going out to the aircraft plant. The Delivery Center is housed in a dedicated group of buildings about the size of Terminal 2 at Budapest Ferihegy airport. At the reception a three dimensional computer generated graphic shows the facility on a big TV screen, complete with the aircraft waiting to be handed over. There are 3 round satellite buildings around the main concourse enabling the simultaneous hand-over of 11 aircraft. Of the A320 alone 470 units are produced per year which means that on average 1.3 aircraft will be in hand-over every day.
We got our badge and as the door opened, there she was, a gem worth sixty-five million dollars: our airline’s newest A320. Alongside her, waiting patiently for the start of the homeward trip, were aircraft of the same type for Aeroflot, Virgin America and Avianca. We also got a glimpse of the A330s of Air China and TAP. There must be a shortage of wine and shower trays in China… The delivery team (22 people) bought 4000 bottles of wine and all the shower trays that could be found in the home improvement stores of the Toulouse area. When we arrived, they were busy loading the haul.
After stowing our gear and printing the flight documentation, we went for lunch. It is customary for the people of the airline concerned and the Airbus folks involved in the delivery to have a formal lunch together on the day of departure in one of the most fashionable restaurants in town which, by the way, is operated by Airbus. We were treated to various fish dishes. After lunch we returned to the Delivery Centre and waited for the money to arrive on Airbus’ accounts, all the papers to be signed and to finally start the journey home. I have heard that the most extreme case concerned a situation where the bank transfer from the other side of the world turned out to be 9 bucks short of the purchase price of around 65 million… this was taken in good grace by Airbus and they let the 9 bucks go… In our case everything went all right and in short order we took possession of the bird which was, by all accounts, newer than new. This was clearly visible on every part, every bit of equipment. We started the push back, waved good bye to the nice Airbus folks, started the engines and we are taxiing now.
Our captain very kindly allows me to be the “Pilot flying” in other words I will be driving during the trip home but the take-off is his. He is planning to do a special maneuver as a tribute to the colleagues working for us but remaining behind on this occasion. After a short wait we get the take-off clearance. There is a brisk head-wind and of course we are also very light so in no time at all “V one” comes up and then the call “Rotate”.
We lift off and retract the landing gear. The next second the capatain banks to the right to 40 degrees then he does the same to the left then again to the right, repeating the whole exercise one more time. Shortly after taking our leave in this spectacular manner we are flying over downtown Toulouse. Here we bank to the maximum permitted 67.5 degrees and turn onto the VOR radial instructed by the controller. With wingtip pointed at the heart of the city, the extra g’s push me into the seat. The captain transfers control to me and I too make a few turns before setting the nose towards the fist point on the route home. We switch on the autopilot only on reaching Flight Level 290. This is RVSM territory and flying on autopilot is mandatory.
Wondrous terrain is flowing backwards below our wings. First we spot the mountain waves generated by the Pyreneans then twenty minutes later the peaks of the Alps rise slowly above the horizon. We pass Geneva, Zurich, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Graz… We consume with gusto the delicacies provided by Airbus while enjoying the sunset over the Alps. This is the nicest sight in the world because you cannot even imagine anything nicer. First there is light everywhere but the color of the light slowly changes to orange. The lightness/darkness boundary on the mountains climbs ever upwards until even the peak of Mont Blanc succumbs to the shadows.
The Sun is gone but it is not completely dark. A full Moon shines down on us over Austria, casting its yellowish tint on the famous ski pistes of that area,
We are approaching home, soon the lights of Budapest rise up to greet us. We start our descent, go around the city to the South and establish ourselves on the ILS to runway 31L. With a gentle thud we touch down on the concrete. This was the fifth landing of this aircraft and the first at home base. We taxi to stand 14, cut the engines and complete the check-list….
We smile at each other. What else can you do when you have completed a mission successfully?