On the 11th of March, 14 EUROAVIAns had the opportunity to visit the Airbus facility located near the Toulouse Blagnac airport, where they were able to see in real life numerous different aircraft manufactured by Airbus. Amongst these they had a close look at the Beluga XL, Beluga ST, A330 neo and the A350 XWB, with its final assembly line.
The visit started with a tour of the Airbus facility, where the guide presented the scope of the facility and the location where each of the aircraft are being manufactured, thus giving a better insight on which aircraft are being built at the site. After having a short tour of the whole site, the time of seeing the final assembly line of the A350 XWB came. There, the EUROAVIAns were able to take a closer look on the A350 model, while being given information on 2 main topics: the structural assembly aspect and the organizational one.
Regarding the actual assembly, the guide explained the agreements that Airbus has with companies around the world that manufacture some of the parts of the aircraft (fuselage, wings, empennage, landing gears and engines), then proceeded in explaining the importance of the types of painting and coatings applied on the surface of the aircraft, for them to have a slower aging. Thus, she also offered a broader view on the raw materials used for the parts and for the merge of all of them. Nevertheless, considering the operational part, the students were explained the importance and the orders of magnitude to the time of assembly, receiving information about the lead time for receiving the parts and time to finish the product. Finally, the visit ended with a tour of the delivery center, where ceremonies are held before the final product is given to the customer.
Overall, the visit had a great impact on the perception of the EUROAVIAns about the work domain of the engineers and about the way in which parts of the aircraft are put together to form, what will be the future entry into service product. The tour, moreover, represented a way in which the theory that the students received in university is being put into practice, one aspect that, for sure, greatened their knowledge.