Pratt & Whitney Begins Testing of Advanced Core for PurePower(R) Engine Family
December 22, 2009
LONGUEUIL, Quebec, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Pratt & Whitney has launched testing of a full-scale PurePower engine core, marking a major milestone in the development of the new generation of jet engines. The engine core — which consists of an ultra-efficient high pressure compressor, a low-emissions combustor, and an all new high pressure turbine — was designed jointly by Pratt & Whitney and MTU Aero Engines. The PurePower family of engines is designed to power the next generation of passenger aircraft, including large business jets, regional aircraft and the next generation of narrow-body jets. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.
“The PurePower family of engines shares a common, advanced core across the PW800 and PW1000G Geared Turbofan engine models,” said Bob Saia, vice president, Next Generation Product Family, Pratt & Whitney. “The PurePower engine core testing — combined with hundreds of hours of ground and flight testing accumulated on the PW1000G Geared Turbofan demonstrator engine — advances the maturity of this technology and brings us significantly closer to final validation and certification.”
The engine core testing includes more than 1,200 individual measurements and leverages state of the art testing technologies, allowing Pratt & Whitney engineers to perform a broad scope of tests beyond what is normally possible at this stage of development. The core program aims to evaluate engine performance, operability and structural design characteristics of these key modules.
“This successful first run of the PurePower engine core marks a major step toward bringing an all-new, next generation engine to market,” said Dan Breitman, vice president, PW800 Programs, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “The PurePower family of engines will deliver double-digit reductions in fuel burn, environmental emissions and engine noise making these products the most environmentally responsible in their class. The goal of this core testing is to validate the engine’s design and confirm our efficiency targets.”
The PW1000G Geared Turbofan engine has been selected as exclusive power for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet scheduled to enter service in 2014 and the Bombardier CSeries aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2013. After announcing the launch of these two new aircraft programs, Mitsubishi and Bombardier each have announced the receipt of a number of orders for these new models of aircraft. The PW1000G was also recently selected to power the proposed new Irkut MC-21 narrow-body jet scheduled to enter service in 2016. The PurePower PW800 engine is targeted to power the next generation of large business jets.
Second Boeing 787 Dreamliner Completes First Flight
December 22, 2009
EVERETT, Wash., Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The second Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner, ZA002, completed its first flight today. The all-new airplane, which features the livery of the Dreamliner’s launch customer, ANA (All Nippon Airways) of Japan, took off from Paine Field in Everett, completed a two-hour flight and landed at Boeing Field in Seattle.
“We are delighted that the second Dreamliner is in the livery of our launch customer, ANA,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. “We are honored by the airline’s support and look forward to delivering ANA the first production airplane next year.”
Captain Randy Neville was at the controls for the flight, with Chief Pilot Mike Carriker operating as co-pilot. Neville and Carriker took the airplane to an altitude of 13,000 feet (3,962 m) and an airspeed of 200 knots, or about 230 miles (370 km) per hour. The airplane took off at 9:09 a.m. PST and landed at 11:10 a.m. PST.
This is the second of six 787s being used in the airplane’s flight-test program. Each of the airplanes will be used for a specific set of tests, with this airplane focusing on systems performance. Like its predecessor, ZA001, the airplane is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.
“We would like to convey our sincere congratulations to the Boeing team for its achievement of this milestone, and we look forward to the delivery into our fleet next year,” said Shinichiro Ito, president and CEO of ANA.
Korea Coast Guard Orders Another AW139 Helicopter
December 22, 2009
AgustaWestland is pleased to announce that the Korean Government has signed a contract for one more AW139 medium-twin helicopter in Maritime Patrol configuration for the Korea Coast Guard. The order represents the third helicopter to be sold to the Korea Coast Guard and the sixth AW139 helicopter to be sold to the Republic of Korea. Earlier in the year the first AW139 was delivered to the Gangwon Fire Fighting Department and recently Samsung Corporation took delivery of its first of two AW139 corporate helicopters.
On the 10th December 2009 the first two Korea Coast Guard AW139 Maritime Patrol Helicopters were handed over to the Coast Guard during a ceremony held at Gimpo Airport in Seoul. Speaking after the ceremony Andrew Symonds, Vice President NE Asia, AgustaWestland, said “The delivery of the first two AW139 helicopters represents a significant stepping stone in developing the market in Korea and we are proud to be ale to achieve this by working closely with such a professional organization as the Korea Coast Guard. The contract for a third AW139 helicopter order not only demonstrates the expansion of the AW139 into the demanding and rigorous role of offshore search and rescue but indicates how the AW139 is highly considered by organizations such as the Korea Coast Guard.”
The Korea Coast Guard AW139 will be used for Maritime Patrol, SAR and EMS missions and will be equipped with Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR), search/weather radar, rescue hoist, emergency flotation system and a four-axis autopilot with SAR modes.
Eurocopter entrega dos EC145 a Helicópteros Marinos para misiones Offshore
December 22, 2009
Marignane, 22 de Diciembre 2009
Eurocopter ha concretado la entrega de dos EC145 a Helicópteros Marinos, un
operador argentino de misiones offshore, que utilizará estas dos aeronaves para
servir a la industria “Oil & Gas” en el extremo sur argentino desde Enero 2010.
Helicópteros Marinos es el tercer operador offshore en Latinoamérica en elegir el
EC145.
Como Helicópteros Marinos opera en áreas remotas y ambientes hostiles sin apoyo SAR
(Search and Rescue)1, uno de los dos EC145 apoyará la operación en estos términos.
“Estamos confiados en la fiabilidad del EC145 y pensamos que el helicóptero será capaz de
responder a las altas expectativas de nuestro cliente TOTAL AUSTRAL en la región.
Creemos que este helicóptero tiene el tamaño perfecto para nuestras operaciones,
cubriendo las plataformas petroleras a una distancia de hasta 60 millas náuticas desde la
costa”, afirma Marcelo Florio, CEO de Helicópteros Marinos.
Ambos EC145 están equipados, en una configuración para 8 pasajeros, con radar
meteorológico, sistemas CVFDR (Cockpit Voice and Flight Data Recorder)2, USM (Usage
Monitoring System) 3 y radio HF. Con su tamaño compacto, cabina flexible, y ofreciendo
espacio hasta 10 pasajeros más dos pilotos, el EC145 se ajusta perfectamente a las
operaciones “offshore” de corto alcance.
El EC145 es el helicóptero bimotor ligero de última generación. Responde perfectamente a
los demandantes requerimientos de las misiones para dar flexibilidad y versatibilidad en un
segmento de helicópteros medio-ligeros, optimizando la inversión y los costos
operacionales. Con una rápida velocidad crucero de 135 nudos y autonomía de hasta 3.5
horas, el EC145 es la elección correcta para servicios médicos de emergencia, policía y
misiones de seguridad nacional como también operaciones oil & gas onshore y offshore, así
como para el mercado de la aviación corporativa.
Sobre Helicópteros Marinos
Helicópteros Marinos es el principal operador offshore de Argentina desde 1978. Con sus 58
empleados y 5 helicópteros sirve a la comunidad oil & gas en operaciones offshore y
onshore. Adicional a esto, es el Centro de Mantenimiento de Eurocopter para Argentina y
Uruguay, certificado para las aeronaves: EC145, AS365, EC130, EC120. AS350 Y BK117.
Desde 1984 Helicópteros Marinos pertenece al grupo HéliUnion, uno de los operadores oil &
gas más importantes del mundo.
Engine Competition Preserved for Joint Strike Fighter Program
December 22, 2009
Engine Competition Preserved for Joint Strike Fighter Program
$465 Million in Funding for GE/Roll-Royce Engine in Fiscal Year 2010
EVENDALE, OHIO – December 22, 2009 – The annual jet engine competition
for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has been preserved by the Defense
Appropriations Bill submitted by the U.S. Congress, and signed by
President Barack Obama. The Bill includes $465 million in fiscal year
2010 for the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Team’s F136 engine.
By continuing the F136 – the competing JSF engine that is already more
than 70 percent through its development – the U.S. Congress preserves
the annual, head-to-head jet engine competition planned for the
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), and demonstrates continued leadership for
acquisition reform reaffirming competition to control cost, while
spurring innovation and accelerating weapon system readiness and
performance.
“Competition is at the heart of defense acquisition reform,” said
David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation. “We are deeply
gratified by 15 years of consistent, bipartisan Congressional support
for the F136 engine and by preserving the annual competition. It keeps
the engine manufacturers at their best, developing the best engines
and value for our military. The argument is simply too compelling for
competing engines on the largest military fighter jet program in
history.”
With funding secured, the GE/RR team enters a very aggressive test
period in 2010, with several production-configuration engines involved
in the test program. GE/RR is slated to deliver F136 flight test
engines in 2011.
Already, the benefits of competing JSF engines are being realized. In
September, the GE/RR team submitted an unsolicited fixed-price
contract proposal for JSF – a unique approach for early F136
production engines that shifts significant cost risk from taxpayers to
the contractors. This fixed-price approach reflects the objectives of
the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009.
More than $2.5 billion has been invested in developing the GE
Rolls-Royce F136 engine, including more than $50 million from GE and
Rolls-Royce.
History shows that competing fighter engines significantly reduce
program costs, while improving safety, reliability, and contractor
responsiveness. The “Great Engine War,” the 20-year battle to power
the F-16 fighter, demonstrated cost savings of 21 percent, according
to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. For the
JSF, that equates to more than $20 billion in savings over the life of
the program.
The F136 engine is the most advanced fighter aircraft engine ever
developed and will be available to power all variants of the F-35
Lightning II aircraft for the U.S. military and eight partner nations.
The F136 engine is a product of the best technology from two
world-leading propulsion companies. The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine
Team has designed the only engine specifically developed for the F-35
aircraft, offering extra temperature margin and affordable growth.
F136 engine development is being led at GE Aviation in Evendale, Ohio
(Cincinnati suburb), Ohio; and at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis,
Indiana.
The F-35 is a 5th-generation, multi-role aircraft designed to replace
the AV-8B Harrier, A-10, F-16, F/A-18 Hornet and the United Kingdom’s
Harrier GR.7 and Sea Harrier, all of which are currently powered by GE
or Rolls-Royce. Potential F-35 production for the U.S. Air Force,
Navy, Marines and international customers may reach as many as 5000 to
6000 aircraft over the next 30 years.
LAN has been authorized to add 14 weekly flights to Brazil
December 18, 2009
As reported earlier this month, the Chilean Civil Aviation Authority has selected the Chilean “model airline’ to be granted a total of seven new routes to Brazil for immediate operation and seven additional new routes to be granted in October 2010. LAN has yet to announce specifics of the new routes, but it has stated that it will maintain its current 21 weekly flights between Chile and Brazil.
Chile invited to join OECD
December 18, 2009
Chile was invited earlier this week to become the 31st member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), only the second country in Latin America to receive the invitation. An accession agreement is to be signed in Santiago on January 11. The country has been in negotiations to join the organization for two years according to the OECD. Mexico is currently the only Latin American member of the organization. The offer came in recognition of Chile’s efforts to to develop a market-based economy. According to the OECD the accession of Chile is a great contribution to its drive to expand global reach and to transform the organization into a more plural and inclusive institution that will play an increasingly important role in the global economic architecture. The OECD – also known as the club of developed countries was founded in 1961. Chile’s Finance Minister, Andres Velasco said: “the invitation is an acknowledgement of the successful policies Chile has been implementing during the last two decades.”
Boeing 787 Dreamliner Completes First Flight
December 15, 2009
All-new Boeing Airplane Touches Down Safely After 3-Hour Mission
SEATTLE, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner took to the sky for the first time today, ushering a new era in air travel as it departed before an estimated crowd of more than 12,000 employees and guests from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The flight marks the beginning of a flight test program that will see six airplanes flying nearly around the clock and around the globe, with the airplane’s first delivery scheduled for fourth quarter 2010.
The newest member of the Boeing family of commercial jetliners took off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. at 10:27 a.m. local time. After approximately three hours, it landed at 1:33 p.m. at Seattle’s Boeing Field.
787 Chief Pilot Mike Carriker and Capt. Randy Neville tested some of the airplane’s systems and structures, as on-board equipment recorded and transmitted real-time data to a flight-test team at Boeing Field.
After takeoff from Everett, the airplane followed a route over the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Capts. Carriker and Neville took the airplane to an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) and an air speed of 180 knots, or about 207 miles (333 kilometers) per hour, customary on a first flight.
“Today is truly a proud and historic day for the global team who has worked tirelessly to design and build the 787 Dreamliner – the first all-new jet airplane of the 21st century,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. “We look forward to the upcoming flight test program and soon bringing groundbreaking levels of efficiency, technology and passenger comfort to airlines and the flying public.”
Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, the first Boeing 787 will be joined in the flight test program in the coming weeks and months by five other 787s, including two that will be powered by General Electric GEnx engines.
The 787 Dreamliner will offer passengers a better flying experience and provide airline operators greater efficiency to better serve the point-to-point routes and additional frequencies passengers prefer. The technologically-advanced 787 will use 20 percent less fuel than today’s airplanes of comparable size, provide airlines with up to 45 percent more cargo revenue capacity and present passengers with innovations that include a new interior environment with cleaner air, larger windows, more stowage space, improved lighting and other passenger-preferred conveniences.
Fifty-five customers around the world have ordered 840 787s, making the 787 Dreamliner the fastest-selling new commercial jetliner in history.
A400M, WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED AIRLIFTER, COMPLETES FIRST FLIGHT
December 15, 2009
The first Airbus Military A400M military airlifter has landed back in Seville, Spain today at 14:02 local time (13:02 UTC) after completing a successful maiden flight lasting 3h 47min following its take-off at 10:15 local time.
Chief Test Pilot Military, Edward “Ed” Strongman, captained the flight supported by Experimental Test Pilot Ignacio “Nacho” Lombo. The engineering team on board included: Senior Flight Test Engineer Jean-Philippe Cottet who had responsibility for the powerplants; Senior Flight Test Engineer Eric Isorce with responsibility for the aircraft systems and performance; Senior Flight Test Engineer Didier Ronceray with responsibility for the handling qualities of the aircraft; and Test Flight Engineer Gerard Leskerpit.
The crew confirmed that the aircraft, known as MSN 1 and its four Europrop International TP400D turboprop engines performed as expected.
Ed Strongman said: “We have had a very successful first flight – the take-off performance was impressive, we explored a lot of the operational flight envelope, and it was a delight to operate in such a well-designed cockpit with its easy interface to all the normal and military systems. I’m sure our customer pilots are really going to like it – we certainly did.”
Nacho Lombo added: “From the very beginning of the flight we were impressed by the ease of handling of the aircraft which was in line with what we experienced in the simulator. The aircraft, systems and engine performance were highly satisfactory. We sense the great potential of this magnificent machine. It has been an honour for all the crew to fly the A400M on its maiden flight, representing all the people involved in the programme.”
Chief Executive Officer Airbus Military, Domingo Urena-Raso, said: “I would like to congratulate Ed Strongman, Nacho Lombo and all of the flight-test team for completing the first flight of the A400M with great success. I am also deeply grateful to everyone in the design, manufacturing and early operations of this programme for their enormously hard work and dedication that have made this aircraft a reality. And I want to thank all those people in our industrial partners and suppliers, as well as our customers, who have contributed so much to the definition and creation of an outstanding product.”
Airbus CEO Tom Enders said: “I hope we can soon provide certainty that we are able to continue the A400M programme. This is expected by those at Airbus, our partners and suppliers worldwide who contributed so strongly to today’s success as well as by the air forces who wait for their plane.”
For its first flight the aircraft took off at a weight of 127 tonnes, carrying 15 tonnes of test equipment including two tonnes of water ballast, compared with its maximum take-off weight of 141 tonnes. As planned, the six-man crew extensively explored the aircraft’s flight envelope in direct law, including a wide speed-range, and tested lowering and raising of the landing gear and high-lift devices at altitude. After checking the aircraft’s performance in the landing configuration the crew landed back at Seville.
In the first half of 2010 MSN 1 will be joined by two sister aircraft, MSN 2 and MSN 3, followed by MSN 4 by the end of the year. A fifth aircraft will join the programme during 2011. This fleet will be used for some 3,700 hours of test-flying between now and first delivery to the French Air Force at the end of 2012. This will be followed by additional military development flying. The type will be certificated by both the civil and military authorities.
A total of 184 aircraft have so far been ordered by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom,
P&W PurePower PW1000G Engine Selected to Power Russia’s Irkut MC-21 Aircraft
December 15, 2009
MOSCOW, Dec. 10, 2009 – Russia’s Irkut Corporation has selected the Pratt & Whitney PurePower® PW1000G engine to power the Irkut MC-21 aircraft. The selection represents the third airframe application win for the PurePower engine, which provides customers a significant reduction in fuel burn and noise with lower environmental emissions and operating costs than today’s engines. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX).
The Irkut MC-21 is a family of 150 to 210 passenger aircraft with first flight planned for 2014 and entry into service in 2016.
“We are very proud that the Pratt & Whitney PurePower engine was selected for the Irkut MC-21 aircraft,” said David Hess, president, Pratt & Whitney. “The PurePower engine is the only flight tested and proven engine on the market that offers validated step-change improvements in fuel burn, environmental performance and operating costs. We believe the PurePower engine with its Geared Turbofan technology offers the best benefits possible to Irkut’s potential customers and provides a decisive advantage in making the aircraft competitive in the global marketplace.”
The MC-21 program will allow Pratt & Whitney an opportunity to extend its PW1000G engine models to the 30,000 pound thrust class. In addition, Pratt & Whitney will contract with Irkut and with Russia’s United Engine-Building Corporation (UEC) on the PW1000G engine for the MC-21 application.
The PurePower PW1000G engine is an all-new centerline engine that includes flight proven, next generation technology. The PurePower PW1000G engine features an advanced gear system that allows the engine’s fan to operate at a slower speed than the low-pressure compressor and turbine. The combination of the gear system and all-new advanced core delivers double-digit improvements in fuel efficiency and environmental emissions and a 50 percent reduction in noise as well as reduced maintenance costs.
With core testing scheduled to continue through January 2010 and full engine testing planned for summer 2010, the PurePower engine program supports the Irkut MC-21 development timeline.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and building industries.
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