Rolls-Royce's Trent 500 has made an incident free maiden flight on the wing of an Airbus A340-300 in a 2.5h flight from Blagnac airport in Toulouse on 20 June. The 267kN (60,000lb) thrust engine is scheduled to be certificated at the end of this year for use on the A340-500/600. The engine was installed in the number two position, replacing one of the four CFM International CFM-56-5C4s used to power existing variants of the four engined Airbus. The aircraft is scheduled to enter service in 2002.
Source: Flight International
