Madrid. 10 November 2022. The Airbus A400M MSN4´s life cycle comes to an end. With more than 2,000 flight hours, 1,000 flights and many missions and campaigns completed, the Airbus prototype known as `Grizzly 4´ among the team, returns to Bremen after nearly twelve years of pushing boundaries to develop A400M capabilities to its maximum.
With the pilots Michel Gagneux and Luis Daniel Sabariegos in the cockpit, the MSN4 performed its last flight to Bremen – number 1,000 and last one in its career – where it will be displayed from now on for a well-deserved retirement after nearly twelve years in service, and after its extraordinary contribution to the development of the A400M.
Since its first flight on 20 December 2010, the team behind the MSN4 has taken on every challenge along the way, and now faces its retirement with pride on how this aircraft helped reimagine the future of military operations, turning the A400M into the mature, reliable and modern aircraft it is today.
Grizzly 4´: The rise of a warrior
BremenAirbus A400M MSN4 has been used for all kinds of test flight campaigns through the years to develop key capabilities such as Aerial Delivery, Low Level Flight or Air-to-Air Refuelling, among others. With around 200 flights and 500 flight hours inside the cockpit of the MSN4, Ignacio Lombo, Chief Test Pilot at Airbus Defence and Space, has been witness and contributor to the development of the A400M. “I will keep Grizzly 4 in my memory as a strong and robust beast. We have taken it to the limit in speed, Mach, altitude, load factor (g’s) and almost tore off its skin!”, he shared. “This aircraft has exceeded all expectations in all kinds of operations with superior performance”.
MSN4 has also been key in the development and certification of the Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) capability as it is crucial for A400M operators today to fly further and safer on their military operations, as well as being able to perfect combos with other military platforms.
César González was the Flight Test Engineer in charge of the development and certification flight test of AAR capability, both as tanker and as receiver: “MSN4 was our Aerial Refuelling workhorse, as it was the one where we tested receiver capabilities with tankers like A330 Voyager and C160 Transall. As a tanker, we used MSN4 to develop and certify pods refuelling with F18 receivers, Hose Drum Unit refuelling with F18s and A400M receivers, the Cargo Hold Tanks (CHT) and more recently, the Helicopter Aerial Refuelling capabilities with H225M Caracal”, he shared. “I feel particularly proud of the mission that first refuelled an A400M receiver (Grizzly 6) from an A400M tanker (Grizzly 4)”.
