I'm either a little young or I became an aviation enthusiast quite late but this picture kinda puzzles me. Did older engines on MD-80's really look like that? What's with the numbers on the blades? Just never seen anything like this before and I KNOW someone here will explain to me what's with that. Thank you.
Dougloid From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (7 years 6 months 4 weeks 15 hours ago) and read 2336 times:
That's the propfan testbed MD80....and that is the propfan or UDF unducted fan as it were. It was awful noisy and prone to high frequency vibration that caused structural problems. It never went into production....I saw it hauling in and out of Long Beach many times.
Flyf15 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (7 years 6 months 4 weeks 15 hours ago) and read 2332 times:
This was a test aircraft quite a while. It is called an unducted fan. Kind of a hybrid turboprop/turbojet. It supposely gives better fuel consumption but there were issues with noise and vibrations.
This is the only MD-80 out there that had that engine, and in fact, it only had one of them. The engine on the other side is a normal engine. There was also a 727 out there with a UDF engine.
TinkerBelle From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (7 years 6 months 4 weeks 15 hours ago) and read 2303 times:
Thanx guys... I figured if it was out there somewhere on many planes, I probably would have seen it. I appreciate the feedback. Weird though that they only had the engine on one side.
Fanofjets From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 1895 posts, RR: 3 Reply 5, posted (7 years 6 months 4 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 2153 times:
NASA also conducted tests of this weird engine on a modified Grumman Gulfstream:
Dogfighter2111 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2004, 1968 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (7 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 1855 times:
Hey,
Give you some more info about the MD-80 UHB engines.
The engine was called a GE36 UHB. The engine was proven to be much quiter than the JT8D standard engines on the MD-80. This version was not offered to any airlines therefore were not mass produced.
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