Airbus Starts P&w Geared Turbofan Flight Tests

摘要

Using its A340 testbed,Airbus has kicked off flight testing of the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF) engine.The cooperative effort between the two companies is being conducted at the Airbus facility in Toulouse,France.It will evaluate the PW1000G technology demonstra-tor,which features the GTF architecture,through a series of airborne trials that will continue until the end of 2008.Airbus,which plans to carry out similar tests with other major engine manufacturers,will also validate the fuel burn and CO2 emissions from each new engine tech-nology.Based in Toulouse,the A340-600 testbed has been used to flight test various engines."It is imperative to us that we continuously explore all technology developments to achieve our ambitious targets," says Christian Scherer,Airbus executive VP strategy and future programs.PW1000G trials will center on design elements,such as the fan-drive gear system.Pratt & Whitney has also performed a PW1000G flight test campaign on a Boeing 747.