The ignition of the powerful engines of an A400M Atlas plane and some facts about them

Last month we saw here the landing and takeoff tests of an A400M Atlas on an irregular runway in Altengrabow, Germany.

Airbus tests the A400M Atlas at maximum load on an uneven runway
The alternative missions that Airbus plans for the A400M and that Spain could assume

Airbus conducted these tests to certify the A400M's ability to operate on unpaved runways at maximum load. As we saw then, the test was carried out with the latest prototype of this aircraft, which bears the Spanish civil registration EC-406. The aircraft was loaded with 123 tons and was able to operate on a runway less than 800 meters long and up to 20 meters wide.

Some users complained that the aircraft couldn't be heard in the video Airbus released about those tests. After all, this aircraft is not only a visual spectacle, but also an auditory one, thanks to its four powerful engines. Airbus Defence and Space has addressed those complaints and today released a new video of those tests on its YouTube channel, but this time including the sound of the aircraft without music. As an added bonus, in the second half of the video Airbus shows the engine ignition process:

Below you can see some screenshots from the video, interspersed with some information about the engines of this aircraft. The A400M is powered by four Europrop TP400-D6 turboprop engines, which were developed by the Europrop International consortium, made up of the companies ITP Aero (Spain), MTU Aero Engines (Germany), Rolls-Royce (United Kingdom) and Snecma (France).

The first ignition of a TP400-D6 engine took place on October 28, 2005, at the MTU Aero Engines factory in Ludwigsfelde, near Berlin, Germany. The engine was tested for the first time with the propeller installed on February 28, 2006. The first simultaneous ignition of all four engines of an A400M, already installed, took place on November 18, 2009, at the Airbus plant in Seville, Spain, where this aircraft is assembled.

Each A400M engine has a power output of 11,000 hp (8,200 kW), with a power-to-weight ratio of 4.41 kW/kg. To give you an idea, this is equivalent to the power of the engines of seven M1 Abrams tanks. Each TP400-D6 engine weighs 1,860 kg. At the time of its market launch, the A400M's engine was the third most powerful in the world, after the Kuznetsov NK-12 of the Tupolev Tu-95 and the Progress D-27 of the Antonov An-70. Currently, the TP400-D6 is the most powerful production engine in the world. Thanks to it, the A400M can reach a maximum speed of Mach 0.72 (889 km/h), with a cruising speed of 781 km/h and a ferry range of 8,700 km, a figure that is reduced to 3,300 km with maximum load.

Each A400M's TP400-D6 engine carries a Ratier-Figeac FH386 propeller with a diameter of 5.334 meters and a weight of 683 kg. The propeller is made of composite materials. Each propeller has eight adjustable, scimitar-shaped blades that are slightly curved, unlike the older propellers with straight blades.

The propellers of the engines on each wing of an A400M rotate in opposite directions, which provides more stable flight. Engine 2 (inner port wing) and engine 4 (outer starboard wing) rotate clockwise, while engine 1 (port wingtip) and engine 3 (inner starboard wing) rotate counterclockwise. As we can see in the video, at startup the propeller blades are perpendicular to the wing, but at maximum power they rotate to provide thrust to the aircraft.