Aircraft

Boeing’s 747-8 is to undergo four major windtunnel test campaigns in the USA and at Qinetiq in the UK. The stretched, General Electric GEnx-powered aircraft’s aerodynamic noise characteristics are being evaluated in low-speed tests in the Qinetiq tunnel in Farnborough (pictured bleow)

                                                                                                                               © BOEING

and work at Boeing’s transonic windtunnel in Seattle will test the final high-speed design. This is to run until mid-March, ahead of high Reynolds-number tests at NASA Ames. Further tests will follow in Seattle before the configuration freeze.