Rolls-Royce announced today (17 May) that the Trent 900, which will be the first engine into commercial service on the Airbus A380, had successfully completed its first flight.
The Airbus A340-300 flying test bed on which the Trent 900 was installed was airborne for 3 hours and 20 minutes during which it reached an altitude of 35,000 ft and speeds up to MACH .86.
Airbus Test Pilot Peter Chandler said the engine had more than met expectations on this, its first flight test. He added: "The flight really is a great success. The engine performed very well during the flight and we have been able to complete the preparation for our follow-on flights."
The aircraft will now undertake a programme of approximately 50 flying hours through to August, enabling the engine, nacelle and aircraft interfaces to be fully evaluated before the start of flight testing of the 555-seat A380 in early 2005.
Ian Crawford, Director Airbus Programmes, Rolls-Royce, said: "We're delighted to see the Trent 900 successfully complete its first flight. We've been pleased with the results from the testing already completed and these have given us confidence for the rest of the programme.
"There's no doubt that our low-risk approach of blending new technology with Trent in-service experience means a high level of predictability in development - but it's still a great moment to see the engine take to the air."
Environmental testing has shown the Trent 900 to be the world's cleanest large turbofan engine measured by emissions per pound of thrust. Its significantly lower noise levels also mean it is on target to be the quietest engine on the A380. Future programme milestones include engine certification in October this year and while the engine will only require a rating of 70,000lb thrust at entry into service, it will be cleared for 81,000lb at certification. It has already run successfully at 88,000lb thrust in test.
Ulfinator From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 312 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (9 years 1 month 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 7787 times:
I have to admit that I am not much of an Airbus fan but that is really cool looking. It is always neat to see a big engine that dwarfs the others. Case in point.
Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15904 posts, RR: 66 Reply 8, posted (9 years 1 month 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 7519 times:
The GE90-115B has more thrust (115300 with room to grow)
Maximum Diameter (Inches) 135
Length (Inches) 287
Fan/Compressor Stages
1F/4LPC/9HPC
Low-Pressure Turbine/
High-Pressure Turbine Stages 6/2
In comparison, the Trent 900 has a thrust of 68000-80000
Fan diameter: 116 inches
Three-shafts
8.0 – 8.1 high bypass ratio
Eight-stage IP compressor
Six-stage HP compressor
Tiled combustor with 20 fuel injectors
Single-stage HP and IP turbine
Five-stage LP turbine
So the Trent is smaller.
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo
Andrewuber From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 2528 posts, RR: 44 Reply 12, posted (9 years 1 month 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 7208 times:
I wonder if with all that thrust from the new engine, did they keep engine 1 throttled back a bit during takeoff (and throughout the flight) to maintain centerline thrust? Or do you think they didn't put the new engine at takeoff power?
FLYtoEGCC From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 947 posts, RR: 3 Reply 21, posted (9 years 1 month 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 6515 times:
I've just watched the video and now I realise what N754PR meant by the "two less tyres" comment - the centre main landing gear is missing on this A340. Anyone know why this is?
EDIT: Just watched it again. Is that A340 a -200 series? Would this account for there being no centre gear?
TransSwede From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 993 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (9 years 1 month 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 6485 times:
Nope, the -200 has the center gear as well.
But the A340 can fly without the center gear, but I presume with some MTOW limitations.
Je89_w From United States of America, joined Mar 2002, 2329 posts, RR: 10 Reply 23, posted (9 years 1 month 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 6420 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Wow, that RR Trent 900 engine dwarfs all the other small CFM engines on the A340 . . . reminds me of the time back in Jan 2003 when N747GE had the GE90-115B as the #2 engine, it made the other PW engines look tiny.
VSXA380X800 From United Kingdom, joined May 2004, 421 posts, RR: 1 Reply 24, posted (9 years 1 month 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 6195 times:
I'm not really surprised. For a double Decker, that is just the right size but for a single deck with a length almost the size of a A330.. The engines are way too large for the 777. DoThey provide the 777 with more speed or because the engine was made large to be efficient ?
4 decks 4 engines 4 long haul
25 RayChuang: The reason why the Rolls-Royce Trent 970 and the Engine Alliance GP7270 engines have such big front fans is because Airbus wants the front fan rotatio
26 Mdsh00: The engines are way too large for the 777. Pardon me but I thought the GE's on the 777 are still larger...
28 MEA310: Does anyone know if all the other 3 cfm engines were turned on during the test flight?Because this new Trent can definitely cover the duty of another
29 AirframeAS: GEEEEEEZZZZZZUUUUSSSSSS!!!!! Those things are FREAKIN HUGE!!!!! The engine is probably larger in diameter than the 777 engine. My god!
30 Je89_w: Does anyone know if all the other 3 cfm engines were turned on during the test flight?Because this new Trent can definitely cover the duty of another
31 AirTran737: The GE90 115B will still eat that thing for breakfast.
33 ConcordeBoy: The engines are way too large for the 777 That's interesting... considering that GE90s are more than a foot and a half larger in diameter The engin
34 AV757: Below you will find actual engine fan sizes and the produced thrust range for each engine family, as you will see the size difference of these engines
35 Gigneil: A 388 = 320.000 lbs of thrust!!! No A380-800 is expected to have 320,000 lbs of thrust. DoThey provide the 777 with more speed or because the engine w
36 BDRules: Just remember people they were built at DERBY where i am from at closest city to EMA not Nottingham. Rolls Royce's home airport EMA I have been stood
37 VSXA380X800: Can you explain how those oversized fan blades prevent a engine failure ???
38 Gigneil: Can you explain how those oversized fan blades prevent a engine failure ??? What are you talking about? The 777 needs big/powerful engines so that the
39 Je89_w: Perhaps comparing that Trent 900 engine to the other tiny hairdryers made it look so large!
40 FRASYD: That's exactly the point, Je89_w, those props on the -200 and -300 are just waaay smaller than anything else...
41 A380900: To be exact, RR engines for the 777 are smaller in fan diameter than GP7200 and Trent 900. Other engines for the 777 have all larger fan diameter than
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