HAMPSHIRE technology will be flying high today as the world's biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 superjumbo, makes its first test flight.
Weather permitting, the 555-passenger double-decker airliner, pictured above, will fly from Toulouse in southern France.
It will be a cause for celebration for thousands of Hampshire workers producing parts for the A380, the world's largest civil aviation project.
Cobham's FR-HiTEMP subsidiary, which employs 550 people in Titchfield, developed sophisticated electronic low pressure fuel pumps for the wings' fuel tanks in a £32.2m deal.
Every A380 will carry £443,300 of equipment from Cobham, including pumps, valves, fluid level indicators, ducting, struts, transmission shafts and emergency oxygen systems.
On the avionics side, Cobham subsidiary Chelton is supplying the audio radio management system, digital clocks, computer servers, antennae and static dischargers.
Major Isle of Wight employer GKN, which has 750 Island based staff, is another company in the region involved in the pan-European project, as is Hamble's Smiths Aerospace, which employs more than 1,000.
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