GE Aviation has started flight tests of the Passport engine selected to power the Bombardier Global 7000 and 8000 business jets.
Flight testing started on 30 December on a GE flying test bed – a Boeing 747-100 – based in Victorville, California, GE says.
The 16,500lb-thrust power plant remains on track to complete certification by the end of 2015 despite entering flight tests about six months late.
The programme was delayed while GE ran tests of the engine in a wind tunnel at low altitudes, according to vice-president of business and general aviation Brad Mottier, who briefed journalists on the delay last October.
Bombardier is counting on GE to certificate the Passport engine by the end of this year. It can then join a certification programme for the first Global 7000, which is scheduled to enter service in 2016.
"Since its first test in 2013, the Passport engine has met or exceeded our expectations, giving us great confidence as we close in on certification,” Mottier says in a news release.
The Passport engine replaces the venerable CF34 in GE’s portfolio, but with several key new technologies. One is a 1.32m- (52in)-diameter front fan “blisk”, which is a single component instead of a separate rotor and blades. The advantage of a blisk is that it minimises the size of the rotor hub, allowing more airfoil to flow around and through the core of the engine to improve fuel efficiency. The risk is that the Passport will feature the largest blisk designed to date for a commercial aircraft engine.
GE also is introducing a new form of ceramic matrix composites (CMC) in the Passport engine. The Leap engine series in development by GE-Snecma joint venture CFM International is the first to use CMCs inside the core of an engine, but these are made from a silicon-carbide material. The Passport engine is designed with CMCs using an oxide-oxide material. They will be used to make the exhaust mixer, the centrebody and core cowls.
In ground testing, the Passport programme has accumulated 750 hours and 300 cycles, GE says.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
