When General Electric and Boeing collaborated to develop the GEnx engine earlier in the decade, the two aerospace companies always envisioned that the engine would first hang, and fly, under the wing of a 787 Dreamliner. Instead, the second GEnx variant, the -2B model which is rated at 66,500 lbs of thrust, was installed under the wing of the 747-8F late last week for the first time.
The -2B model has been in flight test since March 24th and has amassed more than 1,500 hours of ground tests and 100 hours of flight testing under the wing of GE's 747-100 test bed.
The -2B differs from the -1B engine with the inclusion of a conventional bleed air system, whereas the 787's systems are electrically driven.
As RC501, the first 747-8F, inches closer to flight test, Mohammad "Mo" Yahyavi, 747 vice president and general manager says that Boeing has identified 3,500 lbs or about 4/10 of 1% of the aircraft's 975,000 lb MTOW that will be removed for weight savings, according to a report by Aviation International News.
"At this point we are working with our suppliers. For example, one of our suppliers-[GE subsidiary] Middle River, which makes our thrust reversers for us-is coming up with some really good ideas for weight reduction and we are working with them to apply those.
One of those ideas involved switching from a steel to an aluminum ring. Asked about possible changes to materials used in other parts of the 747-8 to lighten the structure, Yahyavi confirmed "there are a few of those examples going on right now," as program engineers prepare for scheduled first flight of the freighter version during the fourth quarter.
In addition to receiving its four GEnx-2B engines, Boeing has also installed one of the aircraft's raked wingtip and will later install the second after leaving the factory to extend the 747 wingspan to 224 feet 7 inches, a growth of more than 13 feet over the -400 and -400F.Program sources tell FlightBlogger that RC501 could leave the factory for the paint hangar as early as the middle of the month, but suggest that the date is fluid and could slip to later in September.
Boeing says first flight is targeted for the fourth quarter of the year, with early indications that the company has set its sights on mid-November for the maiden sortie.
Photo Credit Boeing
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