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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 3157.PDF
PROPULSION V2500 under test at Rolls-Royce's Huckhall site Airbus/IAE agree on V2500 A319 Airbus Industrie and Interna tional Aero Engines (IAE) have agreed to offer the V2500 turbofan on the 130-seat A319, if the programme is launched. The 98kN (22,0001b)-thrust V2522-A5 will be identical to variants, available from 1994 on the 150-seat A320 and 170-seat A321. The 133kN V2530-A5 is to enter service that year on the A321 with German flag-carrier Lufthansa. An identical engine, the 118kN V2527-A5, will be come available on the lllkN V2500-Al-powered A320 at that time, for fleet commonality. The V2500-A5 range has identical turbomachinery to the 98-125kN V2500-D5 family under development for the McDonnell Douglas MD-90, says IAE. The -D5 will enter service in 1994 on the MD-90-30 with Delta. Certification of the -A5 is scheduled for November 1992, and the -D5 should be certifi cated a month later. • P&W enters Spanish joint venture Pratt & Whitney has formed a joint-venture company with Spain's state-owned arma ments maker, Santa Barbara, to manufacture turbofan engine- maintenance tooling. The company, Aeronautical Maintenance Tooling (AMT), is based in Santa Barbara's Trubia armaments factory in Oviedo, northern Spain. The initial investment amounts to Ptas 200 million ($2 million) with each partner con tributing 50%. AMT expects an annual turnover of Ptas 400 million by the year 2000. Next year the two companies plan to set up a further 50/50 joint venture in the Asturias, the same region of northern Spain, for the manufacture of aircraft- engine components. Santa Barbara is also pursuing negotiations with Industrias Turbo Propulsores (ITP), the Spanish state-controlled aircraft engine manufacturer in which Rolls-Royce holds a 45% share, to build components for the EJ200 engine for the European Fighter Aircraft. ITP is the lead company for Spanish engine involvement in the European Fighter Aircraft. • Rolls-Royce ditches re-fanned Trent 800 BY JOHN BAILEY IN SINGAPORE Rolls-Royce (R-R) has aban doned a study into the pos sible re-fanning of its Trent 800 engine for the Boeing 777, after Boeing decided that the aircraft would not require a thrust rating greater than 396kN (89,0001b). The study was started at the request of Cathay Pacific, which wanted an engine with up to 467.5kN thrust to accommodate future growth versions of the 777 twinjet, or the proposed Boeing "747-500". Cathay has decided that the weight penalty is not justified, and that the existing Trent 800 engine would be sufficient for both Boeing aircraft. Although Cathay has still not decided to take the Boeing 777, the airline wanted assurances from the manufacturer that the Trent 800 would power any possible growth versions. The carrier was concerned that the engine would not produce more than 409-413kN with the exist ing 2.42m fan, leaving it "at the end of its growth cycle", accord ing to the airline's engineering director Stewart John. After studying Cathay's re quest, R-R decided that a larger fan would also require an extra turbine stage, which took the weight penalty into "hundreds of pounds", John says, adding: "That defeats the whole object. If you could just increase the fan, you get a lot of performance for nothing." R-R has convinced Cathay that the engine will produce up to 423kN "comfortably" with the 2.42m fan, eliminating the need to increase the fan diame ter to 2.53m. The long-range "B" market 777, at 277,270kg maxi mum gross takeoff weight, will require no more than 396kN, which would also be enough for the stretched 777 and an ad vanced 747 version. Cathay is continuing its evalu ation of the 777 and the stretched Airbus A330-400X, and says that a decision will be made by February. John points out, however, that Cathay Pacific's status as a 777 launch customer will expire if the airline does not reach a decision "very soon", which could cost the carrier "a great deal of money" in launch credits from Boeing. • F100-220E operational on USAF F-16s Pratt & Whitney's F100-220E engine has become opera tional in US Air Force Reserve General Dynamics F-16s. The USAF is upgrading the FlOOs which power the F-16s of the 35 active-duty Reserve and Air Na tional Guard units to -220E standard, with the improved performance and durability of the -220 production engine. The first unit to convert is the Air Force Reserve's 482nd Tacti cal Fighter Group at Homestead AFB, Florida. The upgrade, which introduces electronic en gine controls and high-tempera ture materials, allows unre stricted throttle movement and improves reliability. At the same time, the US engine builder is soon to run a growth version of its F100-229 improved-performance engine, the IPE-94, at 160kN (36,0001b)-thrust. Ground tests began in November. • Compared with ,the 130kN- thrust F100-229, the IPE-94 has a larger-diameter wi^le-chord fan. The 13% increase in air flow, coupled with higher en gine temperatures, increases thrust by about 20%. TheTPE- 94 has a thrust-to-weight ^ratio of 9.5:1, compared with 8:1 for the -229. Pratt & Whitney says the "highly instrumented" IPE-94 is close to the final production configuration. The engine will be fitted with an axisymmetric pitch/yaw thrust-vectoring nozzle for further ground tests early in 1992. • NEWS IN BRIEF CFM56 THRUST TEST The CFM International (CFMI) CFM56-5B engine has successfully demonstrated 142kN (32,0001b) of thrust during its initial ground runs at Snecma's site in Villaroche, France, exceeding its nominal power. CFMI is developing the engine for the new Airbus Industrie A321. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 December, 1991 15
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