Airbus reaches beyond the skies and into space, and the technologies it builds and develops, keeps vital global communications that we all depend upon, working. 

Colin Paynter is the Managing Director of Airbus Defence and Space, based in the UK. Colin heads up a workforce of more than four thousand people, most of whom are involved in building communications and observation satellites. Airbus is by far the biggest player in this field in the UK. Customers for these solutions range from telecommunications companies to the British Armed Forces; and are used for a variety of functions, including monitoring the effects of climate changes and providing extra capacity for mobile phones. Airbus Defence and Space is also developing a new Mars Rover that is on schedule to be launched to the Red Planet (Mars) in the coming few years. Its goal will be to provide new scientific insights. 

Colin who has worked in his current position for 17 years, is about to retire from Airbus, and in this episode, he speaks to Martin Aguera about his work in the past, present developments, as well as his hopes for Airbus in the space segment moving forward.

We are delving into the fascinating world of Airbus Helicopters and our guide for this episode has been with the company for over 30 years.

Didier Desalle is an experimental test pilot, who spends his days pushing the limits of aviation technology. He is known for being the first and only person to land a helicopter, the Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel, on the world's highest mountain, Everest, back in 2005. He has accumulated over 10,000 hours in the air and has flown about every helicopter in the Airbus world.

"As a prototype test pilot, you are always working with the latest technology. Even to the very last day, you want to see new systems or to fly new helicopters. Even to the very last day, you are still at the top."

For many people, Airbus is associated with aircraft, but it also does much more. In all that it does, the company always aims to reach beyond the clouds.

Till Eisenberg is one of those who have helped Airbus make its mark in the final frontier of Space. He led an Airbus team that designed a floating electronic brain – called CIMON – that was sent to the International Space Station to help astronauts with their work. CIMON floats freely in zero gravity with its computerized facial screen watching, listening and communicating by voice with the astronauts. A future version is even being designed to read the mood of those on board in order to help them cope with the psychological demands of being in orbit.

Till came to Airbus with a fascination for space, which came from watching Star Wars and Star Trek as a child, and in this episode, he tells Martin Aguera how he made science fiction into science reality.

Being international is at the heart of Airbus – from its European beginnings to its current global reach. And its workforce is no exception! There are more than 130 thousand people working at Airbus, drawn from over 120 countries.

Shashwath Vummidilakshman’s journey eventually led him to Airbus. But it wasn’t easy realising his dream, coming from the bustling streets of Bangalore in Southern India, to verdant Toulouse in Southern France.

The introduction to this episode comes from Paris Air Show where aircraft are on display in the air and on the ground. But before they reach Le Bourget’s tarmac, or even go near any runway, they go through intensive testing procedures. “Safety first” is Airbus’s mantra in all it does.

Fernando Alonso has been central to this process for three decades, and he has a real passion for every aspect of getting aircraft from the design stage into operation. Over the course of his career he accumulated more than 4,300 hours of flight tests, and notably, he was key in the organisation and development of the Airbus’s flight test campaigns.

Jacques Rocca is Airbus’s History Man. He sees the company’s achievements as part of a heritage that should be preserved. His passion to ensure that the past can be put on display now, led him to join the ‘AIRitage Project’ that collects and preserves aviation history from documents to whole aircraft. For the past ten years, he has also been the director of Airbus’s heritage department.

So who better than him to take us on a private tour of Aeroscopia, the incredible aviation museum in Toulouse.

"When I joined Aerospatiale in 1997, I understood that there is a very important history, heritage, which should be protected."

The Paris Air Show is the place where the industry and the public gather every two years to discover what’s new and exciting in the world of aviation. Airbus’s Chief Technology Officer is always in demand during the show, meeting with potential customers and others. The current CTO, Grazia Vittadini had a particularly busy week. Among other things, she signed an agreement with six other CTOs committing to sustainable goals for the aerospace industry.

Grazia has ascended through Airbus’s ranks to reach the position she finds herself in today. She started off as an engineer designing window frames and now oversees the whole range of technological development for Airbus’s fleet. We spoke to her about her career and what she envisions for Airbus’s future.

“Imagining the impossible is the subtitle of my job.”

In this episode Barbara Kracht – one of Airbus’s original employees – number 007 – goes down memory lane recalling how the company grew from a modest start-up to a global aviation giant. The daughter of Felix Kracht, who was one of the company’s founders, she spent almost 40 years with Airbus, notably as head of Media Relations.

Barbara tells us about Airbus’s beginnings, including witnessing the A300 first flight and some of the challenges commercially and technically of the early years.

“We did not exist, we had to fight for everything.”

erratum: the A330 crash happened on 30th June 1994 and not 1974.