Rolls Royce has announced the first flight of the A380 Trent 900 engine on a A340-300 flying test bed.

There are some nice photos & a 2 minute video of the flight at their website.

http://www.rolls-royce.com/media/showPR.jsp?PR_ID=40069


Their Press release is as follows:

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.

Thanks for posting! Sure is interesting! Although I still don't find those engines as impressive as I thought they would be. Once again, thanks!  

-Tim

The size of that engine is amazing - really makes you think about the size of the A380.....

I can't wait to see it here in SYD.

If you ask me the Trent 900 engine is impressive when compared to let's say the two gentleman standing next to it!  

EK413

I know ground-clearance might be a significant issue, but how neat would it be to have a stretched A330 (A330-600?) powered by two Trent 900's?  

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.

https://www.airliners.net/open.file/313479/M/

1 extra big engine

2 less tyres!!

WOW, those are huge!

Does anybody now how big they are compared to the 777-engines?

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.

Does anyone know where all that testing is taking place?

Really impressive when view from front... 1 big and 3 small engines...

It seems the test was carried out in a commercial airport. Where is it?

Wow, the Trent 900 looks very beefy on the A340. This is one A340 which won't have a slow climb problem (couldn't help myself).

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?

Hmmmmm.  

Andrewuber: Was wondering about the same thing. Also doesn't the extra weight influence stability during the flight?

Maybe they balanced out the weight by putting less fuel in certain tanks and more in others

same question for me at first place.... i think they used different throttle settings for each engine....

normally when will 2 or more new engines be tested together?

It is good to see everyone (myself including) drooling over this masterpiece of an engine  . Really impressive.

A 388 = 320.000 lbs of thrust!!!
Eat you´re heart out, 777ER/LR



hmmmm,
772LR = 0.301 power/weight ratio!!!

Eat your heart out A388, or any other quad jet    

Engines that size (combined with the sheer size of the A380) will make for some magnificent photos using a telephoto lens.

I can't wait to see them.

I can't wait to fly in it.

JEZUS! The SIZE of that engine, incredible!  

FJWH

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?

[Edited 2004-05-18 22:43:10]

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.

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.

Thanks for posting this!

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 ?

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 rotation speed at a slower rate than most high-bypass engines, which drastically reduces engine noise. This is very important given that Airbus wants the A380 to meet the British Quota Count 2 (QC2) noise emissions standard, one that is even more stringent than the ICAO Stage IV standard coming into effect in 2006.

The engines are way too large for the 777.

Pardon me but I thought the GE's on the 777 are still larger...

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Photo © French Frogs AirSlides

Testing in Toulouse...

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 engine.

MEA310

GEEEEEEZZZZZZUUUUSSSSSS!!!!! Those things are FREAKIN HUGE!!!!! The engine is probably larger in diameter than the 777 engine. My god!

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 engine.

The GE90-115B was able to power the B741 by itself without the help from other PW engines.

With the amount of trust produced by this Trent 900 engine, I'd say yes, it can power the A340 by itself.

During the actual test flight, I don't know.

The GE90 115B will still eat that thing for breakfast.

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Photo © French Frogs AirSlides


I´m missing the middle rear gear on that shot?!

on other shots of this plane it´s visible.. nice engine btw...

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 engine is probably larger in diameter than the 777 engine

Get it through your heads folks:
777 engines are larger     

[Edited 2004-05-19 16:52:34]

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 is fairly small excepting the GE family which has a 135 in fan.

This I hope will give all of you a good size perspective of the power plants.

Engine Characteristics

Pratt & Whitney 4000 Series
Fan tip diameter: 112 in
Takeoff thrust: 74,000 - 98,000 lbs

General Electric/Pratt & Whitney GP7000/GP7200
Fan tip diameter: 116 in
Takeoff thrust: 70,000 - 81,500 lbs

Rolls Royce Trent 900
Fan tip diameter: 116 in
Takeoff thrust 70,000 - 80,000 lbs

GE90 Series
Fan tip diameter 135 in
Takeoff thrust 90,000 - 115,300 lbs

AV757

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 was made large to be efficient ?

The 777 is a heavy twin. It needs the extra power to survive an engine failure.

Yes, everyone needs to get past the fact that the GE90 is MUCH LARGER and MUCH MORE POWERFUL.

I´m missing the middle rear gear on that shot?!

Its not extended.

N

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 inside the cowling for that engine when i went there with work.

big enough

Can you explain how those oversized fan blades prevent a engine failure ???

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 other one can take over entirely if one fails. It has nothing to do with speed.

N

Perhaps comparing that Trent 900 engine to the other tiny hairdryers made it look so large!  

That's exactly the point, Je89_w, those props on the -200 and -300 are just waaay smaller than anything else...  

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 A380 engines.

That is the true truth.

Is it just me or did the pick up a wee bit of ice?


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Photo © French Frogs AirSlides

It's you. It's just how it's painted. Besides, in Toulouse in May there is no icing.