The biggest aircraft engine is ready for test flights …

The American company General Electric installed a GE9X engine, intended for a prospective Boeing 777X aircraft, to the flying laboratory of the Boeing 747-400. The beginning of test flights is planned for the end of the year.

The engine is located on the left wing console, closer to the fuselage. A common GE photograph clearly shows that the company had to take this huge engine forward and raise it above the leading edge of the wing to ensure a safe clearance, Aviation Week notes. TRDD, developing traction in 47.6 tons (105 thousand pounds) has a fan diameter of 3.4 m, placed in a nacelle diameter of 4.4 m, making it the largest aircraft engine in history. Installed on the flying laboratory GE9X is the fourth engine used in the test program. The first prototype (known as FETT - first engine to test) was first launched in March 2016 and is currently used for icing tests. The second prototype is used to demonstrate the capabilities required to pass the official 150-hour bench test of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which will be completed in 2018. During these intensive tests under severe conditions, the engine will operate in three limiting modes - maximum speed fan, gas generator and exhaust gas temperature - to evaluate the power plant under extreme operating conditions. The third prototype is now being prepared for testing in the side wind. Another engine, numbered 007, at the end of the year will be sent for icing tests. Prototypes under numbers 005, 006 and 008 are now in the process of being assembled. The engines for the first Boeing 777X will be delivered in 2018. The first flight B777-9 is scheduled for early 2019.

——————————————-------------AVIONIC - Magazine about aviation ✈ 📃

#Planes