Slashdot Mirror
World's Largest Commercial Aircraft Engine Fired Up For The First Time (gizmag.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from Gizmag: With a front fan spreading a full 11 ft (3.35 m), the GE9X is a world record holder and generates thrust in the order of 100,000 lb. To accommodate the aeronautical behemoth, the Peebles facility was recently upgraded with a larger air intake, extra fuel tanks to feed the giant engine, and high temperature gear to deal with the hotter, more efficient design. GE says that the GE9X is currently undergoing its first Full Engine To Test (FETT). This is the next level of the test series, which began in 2011 at the component level, and marks the first test of the complete system, which comes only six months after the engine design was finalized. GE says that this relatively early testing was to ensure that the test data was available as soon as possible for the certification engines, which are scheduled to be installed in GE Aviation's flying test bed for certification of flight testing in 2018.
Bigger engines are more efficient, so this will actually reduce the amount of fuel burned.
I will just add that a tweaked engine is just that, tweaked - it doesn't take all that much to take an engine intended for a thrust rating of 100K lb and tweak it to fit on an aircraft that needs a thrust rating of 95K lb, its not even the biggest job in hanging that engine off that new airframe.
Stuff the airlines, I'm more concerned about the enviroment.
What's the point in a pristine environment if you can't fly there to enjoy it?
Yes, I'm kidding. Mostly.
"Oh no... he found the
Seriously, fuck off and die.
I've always said the environmentalists want us living in caves and scratching for nuts and berries.
You ACTUALLY want to restrict travel by aircraft? That is probably the one thing that could cripple the world's economy in one fell swoop.Next you'll want to ban cargo ships.
Fuck off you cunt.
Would you care to explain how the 777 is hipster? Does it enjoy thick rimmed glasses, skinny jeans, american spirits and pbr?
Because the 777 is like the mainstream number of the beast 666 but with an ironically off by one error.
As it currently stands, the Airbus A380 only needs a maximum of 76K lb of thrust, but Airbus are currently considering an airframe stretch which will increase the thrust requirement - and the engine can always be derated to a lower thrust rating to optimise it for the airframe, while still maintaining near 100% parts compatibility with the version that is hung on the 777X.