EXTENDED-RANGE-twin-operations (ETOPS) testing on the General Electric GE90-powered Boeing 777 has finally begun, with both companies hopeful of receiving certification by about August.
The long-delayed 1,000-cycle ETOPS testing began on 30 March, one day after Boeing received clearance from the US Federal Aviation Administration. The test aircraft, WA077, is now based at Iqualuit (formerly Frobisher Bay) on Baffin Island, in the Canadian Northwest Territories.
"We expect it to be completed in around 130 days, and hope to get our [ETOPS] ticket in August," says GE90 marketing development manager Vince DiGiovanni. The GE90-powered 777, was originally due to receive ETOPS clearance in December 1995.
Meanwhile, testing on the first growth version of the GE90, the -92B, rated at almost 410kN (90,000lb), is approaching completion, with one medium-bird ingestion test scheduled for around mid-April.
The engine will power the first Boeing 777-200IGW (increased gross-weight) aircraft, which is scheduled for delivery to British Airways in around February 1997 - two months late, mainly because of the knock-on effects of the Boeing strike in December 1995.
Improvements to the -92B include "Rene" higher-temperature resistant high-strength steel material in the first two low-pressure turbine stages, increased low-pressure rotor-cavity-cooling flow and single-crystal material in the first high-pressure turbine stage.
ETOPS testing on the second Rolls-Royce Trent 800-powered 777, WA102, has reached the half-way point with the completion of the 500th cycle.
Source: Flight International
