The Engine Alliance GP7200 engine – selected by Emirates to power its new fleet of Airbus A380s – has completed all the certification tests required by the US Federal Aviation Administration, opening the way for the engine’s first flight on the A380 in Spring 2006.
The final icing test was completed on 12 November and certification – normally a 60-day process - is expected in mid-December.
The first shipset of four engines has already been transported to Toulouse in preparation for installation on airframe MSN009 in January, the aircraft that will be the first to fly with the Alliance’s engines. The second batch of four GP7200 engines will be mounted on MSN007 later in 2006, replacing the currently-installed Rolls-Royce Trent 900s.
Speaking in Dubai yesterday, EA president Bruce Hughes was full of praise for this ‘rock-solid engine’.
“The GP7200 has been put through as tough a development and certification programme as any engine has undergone, meeting both new FAA requirements and Airbus specifications for maturity at entry into service.
“This engine, even though it will fly on the four-engine A380, meets all the demanding requirements for extended range operations (ETOPS) on a twin-engine airliner.”
So far, the GP7200 has built up nearly 3,000h and 7,000 cycles of testing and Hughes says that the figure will exceed 15,000 cycles by the end of 2006. “During the test programme the engine ran at more than 94,000lb (418kN) of thrust, significantly higher than initial service requirements of 70,000lb of thrust. And in many tests the engine ran under ‘triple red line’ conditions that it would never see in actual airline service to demonstrate its ruggedness and reliability.”
Source: Flight Daily News
