Lufthansa Technik delivers Zero-G aircraft back to Novespace

Airbus A310 to be used as parabolic aircraft in the future in the
name of science

Having arrived in Hamburg as a former German government aircraft,
this very special Airbus A310 has now left Hamburg again in a
completely new role. Lufthansa Technik AG has delivered the new
Zero-G aircraft to its French owner Novespace following extensive
modifications. The former 10+21 “Konrad Adenauer” bearing the
registration F-WNOV will operate in the future as a parabolic
aircraft in the name of space exploration and technology – in true
reflection of the spirit of Franco/German friendship.

Some 1,300 modifications were required in the framework of the
conversion program in order to convert the aircraft back to its
original factory default state as required by the European aviation
authority EASA. The cabin refit then commenced, with the approx. 20
meter long “test area” proving particularly challenging.

This is the area where prospective astronauts will be able in the
future to experience weightlessness for the first time, for example,
or where scientific investigations will take place. Extra powerful
light installations were required in particular for this purpose,
with care being taken to ensure that these would not pose a hazard
for the “weightless” passengers. Novespace will use the aircraft from
its home airport in Bordeaux from May.

According to Christophe Mora, Technical and Operation Director at
Novespace: “We chose Lufthansa Technik because they know this
aircraft very well, they modified this aircraft a long time ago and
have maintained it ever since. They also offered us a good
modification and C-check package and today we can see that they have
been doing very good work.”

The German Aerospace Center uses the converted Airbus A310 for
zero-gravity research. Dr. Ulrike Friedrich, head of parabolic flight
projects: “We are very pleased that the new parabolic aircraft is
well maintained thanks to the professional collaboration between
Novespace and Lufthansa Technik and is now ready for scientific
flights, having been fitted with all the necessary conversions. Many
researchers are already waiting impatiently to carry out their
biological, physical and medical experiments with zero gravity.” The
German, French and European Space Agencies are looking forward to
their first joint flight campaigns in May."

One thing is for sure according to Joerg Paisen, Project Manager with
responsibility for modifying the new parabolic aircraft at Lufthansa
Technik: “The EASA requirements were a real challenge when it came to
demonstrating the structural integrity of this aircraft. It is solely
down to the good interaction between the customer, engineering
planning and the technicians from the different divisions that the
project was implemented successfully.” The principle of concurrent
engineering was followed, with engineering activities, work planning
and manual execution running largely in parallel. A team of 50
technicians was involved directly with the aircraft in Lufthansa
Technik’s Hangar 5 in Hamburg.

The new Zero-G aircraft from Novespace was already the third
so-called “Special Mission Aircraft” in a row for Lufthansa Technik.
Before this, the SOFIA airborne observatory, a joint project of NASA
and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), had been in Hamburg for
several months for a major overhaul. And Lufthansa Technik also
converted a Lufthansa Airbus A340-300 on behalf of the Federal German
Government to an evacuation aircraft for highly contagious Ebola
patients in the shortest possible time.