Shannon Engine Support expands spare engine portfolio with LEAP

By BA Staff

Shannon Engine Support (SES) today announced that it is expanding its extensive spare engine portfolio with the addition of a mix of 29 LEAP-1A/-1B engines, scheduled to begin delivery in 2016. The order is valued at more than $375 million U.S. at list price.

SES is the largest lessor of CFM56 and LEAP spare engines in the world.  The company currently manages the CFM56 engine lease pool for the product support organization and will provide the same support for the LEAP engine family. Both CFM56 and LEAP engines are products of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran) and GE.

Julie Dickerson, managing director of Shannon Engine Support said:

“We very excited about this purchase. Over our 25 year history, we have become the CFM56 spare engine lessor of choice for airlines and MRO providers alike.  Adding the LEAP engine to our portfolio is a big step in implementing our long-term strategy to offer a comprehensive spare engine offering across the entire CFM56 and 2LEAP engine operator base.  We have made some major investments in the last two years and we look forward to our customers reaping the benefits.”

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Lufthansa $19 billion order launches Boeing 777-9X. Carrier also orders 25 Airbus A350-900

German carrier also orders 25 Airbus A350-900 XWBs

by Devesh Agarwal

The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, at its meeting yesterday, has approved the purchase of 59 ultra-modern aircraft for the Group, comprising of 34 Boeing 777-9Xs and 25 Airbus A350-900s worth EUR 14 billion (approx $19 billion) at list prices, the largest ever jet order.

Computer generated image of Boeing 777-9X in Lufthansa livery

This order confirms indications made by the airline in March, it would finalise an order for its wide-body long range aircraft below the VLA (Very Large Aircraft) size, by the fourth quarter of this year. Lufthansa is currently the only airline to operate the passenger VLAs from both airframers, i.e. Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8i.

Computer generated image of Airbus A350-900 XWB in Lufthansa livery

The incoming aircraft from this order, which will commence delivery in 2016 with the A350, will replace the older 22 Boeing 747-400s and approximately 24 Airbus A340-300s which will be phased out by 2025. The Boeing 777-9X is expected to enter service by the end of the decade.

The 59 new aircraft will consume an average of just 2.9 litres of fuel per passenger and 100 kilometres flown. That is around 25 per cent less than aircraft available today and it will have a positive impact on the Group’s carbon footprint. Unit costs will sink by approximately 20 per cent compared with predecessor models.

The new aircraft will be operated by ultra-modern, powerful, low-noise engines – the Airbus A350 by the Rolls-Royce 'Trent XWB 84' engine and the Boeing 777-9X by General Electric's 'GE-9X' model. The noise footprint of the new models will be at least 30 per cent lower than today's aircraft.

Lufthansa's launch commitment to the 777-9X is not unexpected. As Nico Buchholz, Executive Vice President and Head of Fleet, Lufthansa says

"Boeing and Lufthansa share more than 50 years of partnership and innovation and a tradition of launching new airplane models – starting with the original 737s and most recently, the efficient 747-8 Intercontinental," "Lufthansa is demonstrating its legacy of innovation and market leadership again with its selection of the 777X. We look forward to many years of partnership with Boeing, as we make air travel more efficient, comfortable and environmentally sustainable with airplanes such as the 777X."

In a release Airbus S.A.S. said

The Supervisory board of Lufthansa, Airbus’ biggest airline customer and operator, has decided to expand and modernise its long-haul fleet with a commitment for up to 55 A350-900 aircraft (25 firm and 30 options). Lufthansa also has the flexibility to convert some of the order to the larger A350-1000.

This landmark A350 order comes just six months after Lufthansa made the strategic decision to become an all-Airbus operator for its single-aisle fleet. So far in 2013, Airbus has won more firm orders from Lufthansa (125) in a single year than ever before. Taking all commitments (firm and options) into account the figure rises to 232 aircraft – one more than the 231 Airbus aircraft currently in operation with the Lufthansa Airline.

Lufthansa’s decision today underpins the Group’s status as Airbus’ largest airline customer and operator, with to date 535 aircraft ordered and 397 currently in operation within the Group. The latter include: 282 A320 Family, 42 A330s, 63 A340s, and 10 A380s. Lufthansa has recently announced an order for 100 A320 Family aircraft to switch its Single-Aisle Fleet in the 150-230 size category entirely to Airbus.

Boeing in its release said

Boeing [NYSE:BA] welcomes Lufthansa's selection of the 777-9X for its future long-haul fleet.

The launch of the 777X family is targeted for later this year and entry into service around the end of the decade.

Earlier this year, the Lufthansa Group ordered six 777-300ERs for the fleet of Swiss International Airlines. Boeing will deliver the first of Lufthansa Cargo's five new 777 Freighters later this year.

Lufthansa today operates 93 Boeing airplanes within its group fleets.

In its release GE Aviation said

GE Aviation is excited with Lufthansa’s decision today to select GE9X-powered Boeing 777-9X aircraft. The engines for the 34 aircraft announced by Lufthansa are valued at more than $2.5 billion USD list price. This is the first selection for the new GE9X, which is part of the highly successful GE90 engine family.

The GE9X engine for Boeing's 777X aircraft will be in the 100,000 pounds thrust class with a 10 percent improvement in fuel burn over today's GE90-115B. Key features include: a 132" fan diameter; composite fan case and fourth-generation composite fan blades; next-generation 27:1 pressure ratio high-pressure compressor; a third-generation TAPS (twin annular pre-swirl) combustor for greater efficiency and low emissions; and ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material in the combustor and turbine.

Images courtesy Deutsche Lufthansa AG

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GE Aviation testing new composite fan blades for the GE9X engine

by BA Staff

Image courtesy GE

GE Aviation has begun testing on its new composite fan blades for the GE9X, the next-generation GE90 engine that will power Boeing’s 777X aircraft. This validation test is the first of several testing programs GE has planned this year for the GE9X fan module.

The first round of fan blade tests occurred in June at the ITP Engine testing facility in the United Kingdom and focused on validating the new composite material for the fan blades. The results were very positive. GE plans a second round of tests at ITP later this summer to further validate the new fan blade composite material and a new metal material for the fan blade leading edge.

This fall, GE plans to run Universal Propulsion Simulator (UPS) fan performance tests on a fan rig at a Boeing facility in Seattle, Washington. Work is already under way on the fan rig and facility for these tests.

Bill Millhaem, general manager of the GE90 Program at GE Aviation.

“The GE9X fan blade will feature new high-strength carbon fiber material and a steel alloy leading edge,” “This new material, along with a higher fan tip speed, will improve the efficiency of the low-pressure turbine (LPT) and deliver more than 1.5 percent fuel efficiency improvement compared to the GE90-115B engine.”

The GE9X fan module incorporates several unique features. The GE9X front fan will be the largest of any GE engine at 132 inches in diameter and include a durable, lightweight composite fan case similar to the fan case on the GEnx engines which power the Boeing 787 and 747-8 aircraft. Compared to a metal fan case, the composite fan case will lower the weight by 350 lbs. (approximately 160 kg) per engine.

The fan blades in the GE9X engine will be fourth-generation composite fan blades. GE Aviation developed the first composite fan blade for its GE90-94B engine in 1995. Composite fan blades are also featured in the GE90-115B and GEnx engines. GE has accumulated 36 million flight-hours with composite blades and anticipates accumulating more than 100 million flight-hours when the GE9X enters service later this decade.

The GE9X engine will have 16 fan blades, which is fewer blades than the GEnx and the GE90-115B engines. This fan blade reduction is possible as a result of advancements in three-dimensional (3D) swept design that enables engineers to create a more swept design and large fan chord. The new high-strength carbon fiber material allows the blades to be thinner than blades made from current carbon fiber material, with the same strength and durability. These improvements will drive fuel efficiency improvements and hundreds of pounds of weight reduction from fan blades and the structure needed to support them.

The lower blade count and new carbon fiber composite material will enable GE Aviation to increase the fan tip speed. The increased tip speed will improve the efficiency of the LPT, enabling a reduction in the LPT blade count and contributing to the engine’s fuel burn improvement.

The GE9X engine for Boeing’s 777X aircraft will be in the 100,000 pounds thrust class with a 10 percent improvement in fuel burn over today's GE90-115B. Key features include: a 132" fan diameter; composite fan case and fourth-generation composite fan blades; next-generation 27:1 pressure ratio high-pressure compressor; a third-generation TAPS (twin annular pre-swirl) combustor for greater efficiency and low emissions; and ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material in the combustor and turbine.

GE Aviation has been conducting tests on new materials and technologies for the engine during the last few years. Along with fan blade tests at the ITP Engine testing facility in the United Kingdom, GE Aviation will test a high-pressure compressor rig at GE’s Oil & Gas facility in Massa, Italy, this month. The first engine will test in 2016, with flight-testing on GE’s flying testbed anticipated in 2017. Engine certification is scheduled for 2018.

The GE9X will follow the highly successful GE90-115B engine that entered service in 2004. Rated at 115,000 pounds of thrust, the GE90-115B engine includes such performance-enhancing features as a 3-D aero compressor and wide-chord, swept composite fan blades for greater efficiency. The dual annular combustor emits no more than 40 percent of the hydrocarbons allowed by today's international standards. In addition, today's GE90-115B engines have been enhanced to reduce fuel burn by 3.6 percent from the 2000 launch specification.

More than 1,500 GE90-115B engines have been ordered by customers for their Boeing 777-300ERs, 777-200LRs and 777 Freighters. In 2011, the GE90 engine experienced its most successful order year and accumulated airline and freighter operator commitments for 400 engines, surpassing the 250 engine commitments record from 2007.

Snecma of France and IHI Corporation of Japan are revenue-sharing participants in the GE90 program.

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Infographic: Boeing 777 engine manufacturers' shares

by Devesh Agarwal

The Asiana Boeing 777-200ER which crashed at San Francisco International airport was powered by Pratt and Whitney PW4090 series engines.

Three engine manufacturers have offered power plants for the Boeing 777. Pratt and Whitney offered the PW4000 series. Rolls Royce offered its Trent 800 and General Electric offered its GE90 series.

The infographic below shows the share of market each manufacturer has on the 1,113 Boeing 777s delivered till date.

Since the last few years, GE90-115B and GE90-110B are the exclusive engine series for the currently manufactured 777 variants - the 777-300ER, 777-200LR, and the 777F freighter. So eventually it will have a 100% share of the market. Even on the upcoming 777X project, GE is expected to remain the sole source supplier with a new upgraded engine.

Boeing 777 - share of market for engine manufacturers

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Video: Changing a Boeing 737 CFM56 engine at Southwest Airlines

by Devesh Agarwal

A CGI rendition of the Southwest Boeing 737 MAX

Without a doubt, an aircraft's engines are one of the most complex parts on an aircraft. After the airframe, the engines are the most expensive item an airline buys, and normally an airline signs separate contracts for the airframe and the engines.

With thousands of rotating parts, and temperatures reaching close of one thousand degrees, engines require regular maintenance. Almost all engine manufacturers like General Electric, Rolls Royce, Pratt and Whitney, CFM, and IAE, offer a concept of 'fixed total cost of operations' wherein the airline pays the engine vendor a fixed cost per hour of operation of the engines and the vendor is responsible for maintaining the engines. This concept is better known as "power by the hour".

Some airlines like US low cost carrier, Southwest Airlines, have extremely large fleets, and find it more economical to have their own maintenance and engineering operations. For Southwest, these engineering centres are based at their major hubs of Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Chicago, and Atlanta. The centres routinely swap out the CFM56 engines of their all Boeing 737 fleet. Since an aircraft earns money for an airline only when it is flying, airlines always keep spare engines, which are swapped out, allowing the aircraft to be put back in to service quickly. The engine then undergoes repairs and maintenance offline.

The CFM56 engines powering the Boeing 737NG weigh about 2,500kgs each, and even the well experienced technicians at Southwest take between four and seven hours to do a routine engine swap. In the video, observe the synchronism of teamwork that makes this complex task look routine, a task Southwest technicians perform over 154 times a year.

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Night photos from Delhi Indira Gandhi international airport - the Boeing 777 collection

Continuing our photo essay (see part one) on the night photography at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), thanks to the support of the kind friends at Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd. (DIAL) and the DGCA, today is the Boeing 777 collection.

The 777 is largest twin-engine airliner in the world, along with being one of the most popular, and the most profitable for its manufacturer, Boeing.

The newer 777-300ER, 777-200LR (both of which form bulk of Air India's long distance fleet), and Freighter variants feature the largest engines in aviation history, the General Electric GE90-115B or -110B1 engines. The GE90-115B, has a fan diameter of 3.25 metres or 10ft 8in. This photo offers a size comparison between the GE90 and the earlier engines used to power the venerable Boeing 747.

The GE90 has a distinct "moaning" sound when it starts. It is music to us plane spotters. Play the video to hear it. Anywhere in the world, if you are within earshot of an airport, or on-board a 777-300ER or 777-200LR flight, keep an ear out for the sound.

Air India Boeing 777-200LR (also called 77L in airline parlance) VT-ALE (equipped with the GE90-110B)

Emirates airline Boeing 777-300ER (77W) A6-ECK (equipped with GE90-115B)

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 (773) 9V-SYF (not an ER. Equipped with Rolls Royce Trent 800 RB212 engine)

Thai Airways Boeing 777-300 HS-TKB (equipped with Rolls Royce Trent 800)

We request you to please encourage these photographers via a comment on the photo site.

Photos are used with permission of the photographers who retain full copyright. Pictures may not be used without their specific permission.

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Pictures: Air India 787 Dreamliner gets water cannon salute on first arrival at Bangalore

On the auspicious day of Ganesh Chaturthi, Air India commenced commercial service of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner. VT-ANH, performing flight AI403 from Delhi was given the traditional welcome, on its first arrival at Bengaluru International Airport, a water cannon salute by the airport's fire-fighters (ARFF).

The Dreamliner, carrying 173 passengers, touched down around 21:06, delayed by almost two hours late due to a failure of the air-conditioning system just as it was departing Delhi airport.

The aircraft was welcomed by senior officials of Air India, and a delegation from Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), led by Hari Marar, President, Airport Operations. Airside, virtually everyone connected to the aircraft, including engineers from engine manufacturer General Electric were present.

On arrival, the aircraft was given the traditional 'puja' accorded to new vehicles including the flight crew breaking a coconut to ward off evil spirits.

All these ceremonies took a toll on the turn-around time. The Dreamliner departed on its return flight to Delhi around 22:45, nearly three hours late, with 126 passengers on board, along with India's External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna.

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NTSB issues urgent safety alerts for GEnx engines; Air India, JAL, Ethiopian, Qatar 787 Dreamliners affected

The National Transportation Safety Board, the independent safety investigator of the United States, has issued two urgent safety recommendations (A-12-52 and A-12-53) on General Electric GEnx engines, which power the latest generation of Boeing aircraft; the 787 Dreamliners and the Boeing 747-8 both freighters and Intercontinental passenger jets.

The GEnx-1B engines power the 787 Dreamliners operating with Air India, Japan Airlines (JAL), Ethiopian Airlines, and soon, Qatar Airways. The two other 787 operators All Nippon Airways (ANA) and LAN Chile, have their aircraft powered by the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines.

The GEnx-2B engines power the Boeing 747-8i of Lufthansa and the 747-8F freighters of many carriers.

The investigation of the GEnx engines began with the July 28th engine failure incident at Charleston, SC, USA, involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner destined for Air India. Initial investigations suggested a fracture failure of the fan midshaft (FMS), first reported by Bangalore Aviation. While that investigation is still on-going, on August 31, the NTSB found similar indications on another GEnx-1B fitted on, a yet to fly, 787. The fan midshaft was removed from that engine for further inspection and examination. As a result of the investigative work to date, the NTSB has determined that the fan midshafts (FMS) on the GEnx engines fractured or cracked at the forward end of the shaft where the retaining nut is installed.

The NTSB is also concerned about a loss of power on the GEnx-2B engine of a Boeing 747-8F cargo flight, operated by Air Bridge Cargo, at Shanghai, China, during take-off. The airplane had accelerated through 50 knots when the engine's low pressure rotor speed dropped. The pilot rejected the takeoff and returned to the ramp. Photographs of the low pressure turbine show damage similar to the GEnx-1B engine from the Charleston incident.

The urgent recommendations are: (1) (A-12-52) Issue an airworthiness directive to require, before further flight, the immediate ultrasonic inspection of the fan midshaft (FMS) in all GEnx-1B and -2B engines that have not undergone inspection, and (2) (A-12-53) Require repetitive inspections of the fan midshaft at a sufficiently short interval that would permit multiple inspections and detection of a crack before it could reach critical length and the fan midshaft fractures.

NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said

"The parties to our investigation -- the FAA, GE and Boeing -- have taken many important steps and additional efforts are in progress to ensure that the fleet is inspected properly," "We are issuing this recommendation today because of the potential for multiple engine failures on a single aircraft and the urgent need for the FAA to act immediately."

The engine manufacturer, GE, has developed a field ultrasonic inspection method to inspect the fan midshaft in the area where the fracture and crack occurred. This inspection can be done with the engine still installed on the airplane, thus saving operators a lot of money and downtime. To date, all in-service and spare GEnx-1B engines have been inspected. In addition, all GEnx-2B engines on passenger airplanes have been inspected. However, as per the the NTSB, approximately 43 GEnx-2B engines mounted on 747-8F cargo airplanes have not yet been inspected, and this is a concern on potential fan midshaft failures.

Read the full safety recommendations here.

The NTSB is still continuing its investigations, but these safety recommendations have the potential of snow-balling in to a major issue for national carrier Air India. After the Charleston incident, delivery of the first 787 for the carrier was delayed, with Indian aviation regulator, the DGCA, slow to grant safety clearance. At least two possibly three 787s were due to be delivered in rapid succession in the next few weeks. Will the carrier delay induction awaiting clarifications from the engine manufacturer?

Prudence demands they should. After all, engines can make up more than 30% the cost of the aircraft, and need to be beyond 100% reliable.

Share your thoughts via a comment.

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NTSB traces Air India Boeing 787 GEnx engine failure to fan mid-shaft fracture

The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released an interim report on the progress of its investigation in to the failure of a General Electric GEnx engine on-board a Boeing 787 Dreamliner destined for Air India on July 28th last. The have traced the failure to a fracture on the forward end of the Fan Mid-Shaft.

Bangalore Aviation has exclusive obtained this exemplar image showing approximate location of the failure.

The National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation of the July 28, 2012 contained engine failure that occurred on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner during a pre-delivery taxi test in Charleston, South Carolina. A contained engine failure is a specific engine design feature in which components might separate inside the engine but either remain within the engine’s cases or exit the engine through the tail pipe. This design feature generally does not pose immediate safety risks.

Last week, the NTSB sent an investigator to the scene to gather information on the incident and subsequently launched a full investigation into the cause of the failure, led by NTSB Investigator-in-Charge, Mr. David Helson.

On August 1, 2012, a team of experts from the NTSB, FAA, Boeing and GE Aviation specializing in engine systems and metallurgy traveled to a GE facility in Cincinnati, OH to disassemble and examine the failed GEnx engine. GE is the manufacturer of the GEnx engine. The parties to the investigation have been extremely cooperative in assisting NTSB personnel in its review and assessment.

As a result of the investigative work to date, the NTSB has determined that a fan mid-shaft on the failed GEnx engine fractured at the forward end of the shaft, rear of the threads where the retaining nut is installed. The fan mid-shaft is undergoing several detailed examinations including dimensional and metallurgical inspections.

GEnx engine cut-away drawing not part of NTSB release.

The GEnx engine is a newly designed aircraft engine. It is a “dual shaft” engine, meaning that one shaft connects the compressor spool at one end to the high pressure turbine spool at the other end. A longer “fan shaft” connects the fan and booster in the front of the engine to the low pressure turbine in the back.

The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which is a combined unit on the 787 Dreamliner, was transported to the agency's Recorders Laboratory in Washington, DC for processing and readout. Both recordings captured the event and analysis is ongoing.

Moving forward, investigators will continue the detailed examination of the engine and metallurgical analysis of its components. The investigators have also begun reviewing the engine manufacturing and assembly records.

This investigation is ongoing. The information released today is factual in nature and does not include any analysis. Additional factual information may be released as it is developed.

Engine experts in India say that the main component carrying shafts inside an engine are an important part of the engine, but it is too early to say whether this fracture was caused due to materials flaw, a fault in manufacturing, or a design flaw. Depending on the reason for failure, it has the potential to become serious. However, the NTSB has not issued any recommendations yet. Boeing is due to deliver a GEnx powered 787 to Ethiopian Airlines early next week.

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner destined for Air India suffers serious engine mishap. NTSB to investigate

The second Boeing 787 Dreamliner to be built at the airframer's Charleston, South Carolina facility suffered a serious engine mishap during pre-flight testing on the afternoon of Saturday. This aircraft is due to be delivered to national carrier Air India as VT-ANJ.

A Boeing spokesperson told Bangalore Aviation

"A 787 experienced an engine issue July 28 while undergoing preflight runway testing in North Charleston. As the NTSB investigates, Boeing and GE are working closely with the agency and are committed to resolving the issue appropriately.

While the investigation is in its early stages, we are unaware of any operational issue that would present concerns about the continued safe operation of in-service 787s powered by GE engines. However, should the investigation determine a need to act, Boeing has the processes in place to take action and will do so appropriately."

Boeing 787 Dreamliner due to become N1015L, at India Aviation show, Hyderabad, March 2012.

As per The Post and Courier newspaper report

Debris from a brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner's engine fell onto the runway and into the grass at Charleston International Airport Saturday afternoon, sparking a fire, shutting down the airport and diverting flights for more than an hour.

The incident occurred around 16:00 local (01:30 IST). The Charleston airport spokesperson said "the airport closed around 4:30 p.m. and reopened at 5:41 p.m."

The gravity of the incident is serious enough to merit an investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The aircraft is powered by the General Electric Co. GEnx engine. Japan Airlines is currently the only operator of GEnx powered 787s with four aircraft in its fleet. The only other operator of the 787, launch customer, All Nippon Airways (ANA), uses the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines.

Engine manufacturer GE released this statement to Bangalore Aviation

"During a ground test run in North Charleston on July 28, a GEnx-1B engine on a non-revenue generating Boeing 787 aircraft experienced an issue. No one was injured.

About 100 GEnx engines are in service, and they have accumulated more than 125,000 flight hours.

GE continually monitors and analyzes the performance of the GEnx fleet in service, and we are not aware of operational issues that would hazard the continued safe flight of aircraft powered by these engines."

Boeing operates Dreamliner assembly lines in two locations, both in the US. Charleston in South Carolina and Everett in Washington. The Charleston facility rolled out its first 787 Dreamliner, also destined for Air India as VT-ANI, earlier this year, in April.

This incident comes within the week after ANA partially grounded some of its 787s after corrosion was found in its Trent 1000 engine gearbox components.

The GEnx engine is also used to power the newest version of the venerable Jumbo Jet, the 747-8.

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Audio and Video: The moaning of GE90-115B - the largest commercial jet engine

Ask any plane spotter about the General Electric GE90-155B engines and you will get a universal thumbs-up. The largest engines fitted on any commercial jet, two GE90's power every Boeing 777 made today; the -300ER, the -200LR, or the freighter.

Put the engine size in perspective. Compare the ground engineer near the nose wheel.

To give you an idea of size, the diameter of the engine (11 ft 3 in or 3.429 m) is just a little less than the fuselage diameter of the Boeing 737, and at take-off thrust the engine swallows more than two million cubic feet of air per minute. More technical details can be read here.

Apart from its size, what spotters love about the engine is the unique "moaning" sound it makes the engine turbine fired at start-up.

All commercial jet engines today, are started using compressed air. The compressed air is produced by the auxillary power unit (APU) located in the tail of the aircraft and fed via ducts to the engines. This are blows the engine blades around through a series of gearbox, shafts, and starter. When the engine blades are sped up to a certain point, fuel is injected into the engine and ignited. At this moment the GE90 produces its signature moan and the engine starts.

This is what the engine start-up sounds like from outside



This is from inside the cabin

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Siuchan Airlines orders 20 COMAC C919

On October 21st, 2011 , Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC for short) announced an order from Siuchan Airlines for 20 of its narrowbody C919 aircraft. Earlier in the week, COMAC had won an order for 45 C919s from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.’s leasing arm.

The COMAC C919 is a large narrowbody aircraft designed to compete with the Boeing 737MAX and Airbus A320neo. The airplane is projected to make its first flight in 2014, and its first delivery is planned for 2016. While the design and production of the airliners are based in China, foreign companies play a significant role in its production as well. CFM International, a GE-Saras joint venture is producing the engines for the aircraft, and other foreign companies such as Honeywell play a role in constructing the aircraft's flight systems.


The order from Siuchan Airlines brings the total firm orders for the C919 to 105. China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, and Air China are the other airlnes who have ordered the type. Additionally, GE's leasing wing has an order for 10 C919s, with 55 more from Chinese leasing firms. Despite this modest success, the C919 will likely not be taken seriously until it garners an order from a major non-Chinese airline. Ryanair's Michael O'Leary indicated an interest in the C919 earlier this year, but aviation analysts have speculated that his statements were designed to put pressure on Boaing and Airbus for better pricing terms.

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John Leahy reveals Airbus A320 NEO (new engine option) plans

At the recently concluded EADS Global Investor Forum 2010, John Leahy the chief operating officer for Airbus S.A.S. the commercial airframe manufacturer owned by the consortium revealed plans on its proposed New Engine Option (NEO) for its ultra-popular A320 family of aircraft.

In this slide, Mr. Leahy unveils an artistic impression of the re-engined single-aisle narrow body airliner and outlines a targeted efficiency gain in fuel burn of up to 15% over the current generation of A320s. This is in addition to the new Sharklets which Airbus is scheduled to introduce in 2012 which are expected to deliver 3.5% improvement in fuel burn and also improved aircraft performance and noise levels.

The NEO will use high bypass ratio engines with ratios increasing from the current five to between nine and twelve. To achieve this fan diameters will increase from around 64 inches (1.626m) to 81 inches (2.057m). Due to taller under-carriage this is an option the A320 can consider, but its competitor the Boeing 737NG with its much lower wing height will find difficult to do.

On the slide one observes the logos of engine manufacturers CFM International (a consortium of GE Aviation and Snecma currently offering the CFM56 engines), and Pratt & Whitney are displayed.

The logo noticeably missing, is that of International Aero Engines (IAE) (a consortium of Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, MTU Aero Engines and Japanese Aero Engines Corporation currently offering the V2500 engines).

In India, A320s of Air India and GoAir are powered by CFM engines while those of IndiGo and Kingfisher are powered by the V2500.

During his presentation, Leahy does sound very optimistic about the Airbus board going ahead with the NEO plan. A similar optimism was sounded by Tom Enders, the CEO during his recent visit to India.

The overall presentation on Airbus commercial aircraft does make very interesting reading and shows the competitive position that Airbus enjoys against arch-rival Boeing.

Some interesting analyses are on page 6 (Airbus lags Boeing on the units of aircraft orders but leads Boeing on the revenue value of orders), on page 7 (lags Boeing in the single aisle segment but leads in all others), slides 8~11 document the financial situation with airlines across the world.

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NTSB issues urgent safety recommendation for General Electric CF6-45/50 engines

The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued two urgent safety recommendations affecting General Electric CF6-45/50 engines.

This engine is found mostly on cargo aircraft like Airbus A300s (now retired by Air India), Boeing 747s, DC-10s, MD-11s, and U.S. Air Force KC-10 tankers. However, there is a case involving a passenger Boeing 747-300 of Saudi Arabian Airlines.

The NTSB bulletin details the failure and four incidents

All recommendations apply to the low pressure turbine (LPT) stage 3 (S3) rotor disk in the General Electric (GE) CF6-45/50 series turbofan engines that can fail unexpectedly when excited by high-pressure (HP) rotor unbalance.

An uncontained engine event occurs when an engine failure results in fragments of rotating engine parts penetrating and exiting through the engine case. Uncontained turbine engine disk failures within an aircraft engine present a direct hazard to an airplane and its passengers because high-energy disk fragments can penetrate the cabin or fuel tanks, damage flight control surfaces, or sever flammable fluid or hydraulic lines. Engine cases are not designed to contain failed turbine disks. Instead, the risk of uncontained disk failure is mitigated by designating disks as safety-critical parts, defined as the parts of an engine whose failure is likely to present a direct hazard to the aircraft.

In its safety recommendations to the FAA, the NTSB cited four foreign accidents, which the NTSB is either investigating or participating in an investigation led by another nation, in which the aircraft experienced an uncontained engine failure of its GE CF6-45/50 series engine.

The date, location, and circumstances of these four events (none had injuries or fatalities) are as follows:

• On July 4, 2008, a Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) Boeing 747-300 experienced an engine failure during initial climb after takeoff from Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This investigation has been delegated to the NTSB.

• On March 26, 2009, an Arrow Cargo McDonnell Douglas DC-10F, about 30 minutes after takeoff from Manaus, Brazil, experienced loss of oil pressure in one engine. The pilots shut down the engine and diverted to Medellin, Columbia. This investigation has been delegated to the NTSB.

• On December 17, 2009, a Jett8 Cargo Boeing 747-200F airplane was passing through 7,000 feet above ground level (agl) when the flight crewmembers heard a muffled explosion and immediately applied left rudder. With one engine losing oil pressure, the airplane returned to land at Changi, Singapore. The NTSB is participating in the investigation that is being led by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau of Singapore.

• On April 10, 2010, an ACT Cargo Airbus A300B4 experienced an engine failure while accelerating for takeoff at Manama, Bahrain. The crew declared an emergency, rejected the takeoff, activated the fire suppression system, and evacuated the airplane. The NTSB is participating in the investigation that is being led by the Bahrain Ministry of Transportation - Civil Aviation.

The full safety bulletin is available here. The NTSB safety recommendation letter to the Federal Aviation Administration with all four safety recommendations in PDF format can be found here.

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The world's largest aircraft engine, the GE90-115B found on all Boeing 777-300ERs and 200LRs

I have always loved the General Electric GE90-115B engines which exclusively power all Boeing 777-200LRs and 777-300ERs. The super large size and low throated moan when operating just tickles me.

GE90-115B fitted on Emirates Boeing 777-300ER A6-EBL

The GE90 series are physically the largest engines in aviation today, the GE90-115B, has a fan diameter of 3.25 meter (10ft 8 in). The engine has a larger diameter than most smaller airliners such as the Bombardier CRJ family or the Embraer ERJ. In fact it is only slightly smaller than the 3.7 metre cabin width of the Boeing 737. The diameter of the engine allows it to spin at slower revolutions and makes for a more quieter engine.

It performance specifications are equally impressive.

• Maximum Thrust: max at sea level: 115,300 lbf (512.9 kN) ; world record set at 127,900 lbf (568,9 kN) 827 feet above sea level
• Overall pressure ratio: 42:1
• Thrust-to-weight ratio: approx. 6.3:1

Some other notable facts

• Approximative unit price is $24 million
• A GE90-115B delivers twice power of a single engine on the Boeing 747 or the Titanic which is roughly equivalent to 111,526 HP. Compare this to the 100~150BHP produced by the average car.
• At take off thrust, a GE90 engine ingests around two million cubic feet of air per minute.

However, all these performance does come at a price. GE90 engines can only be airfreighted in assembled form by outsize cargo aircraft such as the Antonov An-124 'Condor', presenting unique problems if a 777 was stranded in a place without the proper spare parts.

The GE90 is being used as the platform for development of new GEnx engine which will power the Boeing 787, 747-8. Across the Atlantic a separate GE90 derivative engine for the Airbus A380 called the GP7000 which is used by Emirates airline, is being developed by Engine Alliance, a cooperative venture between GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney.

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