Rolls-Royce is considering retaining its Boeing 747-200 testbed aircraft for flight trials of its new RB282 engine, destined to power Dassault Aviation's future super-mid-size Falcon business jet.
"The customer has asked for a flight testbed," says Dr Rainer Hönig, R-R future programmes director. "We are now in the evaluation phase. We have not yet decided what will be the best way to do it."
The 747 was used by R-R and partner L-3 Communications to perform two phases of Trent 1000 flight testing ahead of the first flight of the Boeing 787, now expected to take place by the end of the third quarter. The ex-Cathay Pacific 747, owned by R-R North America, is undergoing heavy maintenance at Evergreen.
"The next requirement is for testing of the RB282," says R-R corporate flight-test specialist Andy Roberts.
The Trent XWB, under development for the A350 widebody twin, will be flight tested on the Airbus-owned A380 MSN001 rather than R-R's 747.
Hönig says a factor in the decision on whether to use the 747 testbed for the RB282 - which will be ready for flight trials from 2010 - is the desirability of testing the engine's performance at high-altitude cruise conditions, above the four-engined widebody's normal operating ceiling.
The BR725, R-R Deutschland's latest BR700-series engine, which is destined to power the Gulfstream 650, will be run in an altitude test facility but will not fly on a testbed before the new long-range business jet's first flight, says Hönig.
Source: Flight International
