The moment an aircraft leaves the ground for the first time, whether it is the first example of a new type or an individual production airframe.
What it is
The phrase has two meanings. A type's first flight, often called its maiden flight, is the headline milestone of a programme. It is flown by a prototype with the manufacturer's test pilots and a small crew of flight test engineers, usually lasts a few hours and checks the aircraft's basic behaviour without going near the edges of its envelope. It opens the flight test campaign that leads to certification.
Every production aircraft has its own first flight too. Once it leaves the assembly line, the manufacturer's crew puts it through a production test flight, and the customer's team normally flies an acceptance flight before delivery. That individual first flight usually takes place only a few weeks before the aircraft joins its airline.
The Airbus A380, for instance, first took off from Toulouse in 2005, yet each A380 built afterwards has a first-flight date of its own.
On Vuelopedia
Vuelopedia shows both dates: the type's first flight on the model page and, where known, each aircraft's own first flight in its record.
Related terms
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). First flight. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/first-flight
MLA
“First flight.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/first-flight. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “First flight.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/first-flight.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) First flight. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/first-flight (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_first_flight,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{First flight}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/first-flight},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/first-flight}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/first-flight |title=First flight |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}