By Guy Norris at Farnborough air show
Flight tests of the first 737 with an upgraded "Tech Insertion" CFM56-7B/3 engine are expected to start at Boeing in August, while flight tests of the similarly improved CFM56-5B/P are to begin on an Airbus A320 in 2007.
The upgraded engines have new features taken from the Tech 56 technology development effort including high-pressure (HP) compressor, combustor, HP turbine and low-pressure (LP) turbine nozzle changes. Together these have been designed to increase time on wing, improve fuel burn, give the engine more margin over CAEP 6 emissions levels and improve durability.
"The Tech Insertion will also be the -7 and -5B standard for all new aircraft from around mid-June 2007," says CFM executive vice-president Bill Clapper. The -7B/3 was certificated to US Part 33 on 14 June and the 737 will undergo Part 25 certification after a short flight-test effort, which is expected to last for "a couple of months", he adds. The -5B/P certification is due "late September/early October, and we're looking for FAR 25 by the first half of 2007", says Clapper.
Aware of airlines' rapidly growing interest in fuel- and cost-saving options, CFM is also "defining a Tech Insert kit for when the [current standard] engine comes in for a shop visit from late 2007/early 2008. We would be able to offer elements of the Tech Insert in kits, and we're looking at the certification process for that now."
Clapper says that, unlike the more aggressively marketed CFM56-3 and CFM56-5C/P upgrades, the Tech Insert upgrade to current -7B/5B engines will be "by attrition. We won't throw stuff away, and we will support both. We are working hard to give the airlines an option."
Some 580 CFM56-3 and 5B/P upgrade kits worth $730 million have now been ordered, the bulk of which are for 737 Classics.
Source: Flight International
