First Trent 1000s shipped by Rolls-Royce for Boeing 787 roll-out

The first pair of Trent 1000 engines has been shipped by Rolls-Royce for installation on the Boeing 787. The engines were dispatched from the company’s Derby, UK facilities on schedule.

Dominic Horwood, Director – Boeing Programmes at Rolls-Royce, said: “As the launch powerplant on the 787, the Trent 1000 has the special responsibility of leading the programme, and dispatching the first set of engines is a proud moment for the Rolls-Royce team, our partners and suppliers. It is also a testament to the great co-operation we enjoy with our colleagues in Boeing. I’m sure all those involved, especially our Trent 1000 customers, will share our excitement when the 787 is revealed for the first time.”

A total of nine development engines are already involved in ground running, with a further ten Trent 1000s scheduled to support the flight test phase. Production engines are due to begin deliveries to Boeing in the first quarter of next year.

The Trent 1000 has now completed the majority of testing required for engine certification by the airworthiness authorities later this year.

This included the fan blade-off test, in which a blade was deliberately fractured at the root using an explosive charge with the engine at full power, before being safely contained. Other key tests involved bird ingestion, during which the engine suffered minimal reduction of thrust during simulated bird strikes.

All simulated altitude testing necessary to support certification has been completed at the Arnold Engineering Development Centre (AEDC) in Tullahoma, Tennessee, which is able to mimic in-flight conditions beyond the aircraft’s normal operational environment.

Airborne testing of a Trent 1000 on the Rolls-Royce Boeing 747 flying test bed will begin shortly and will be used to validate airframe and intake interfaces.

Producing a range of thrusts from 53,000 – 75,000lb, a single version of the Trent 1000 will be certified to power all variants of the 787.

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1. The Trent 1000 will be launch engine on all variants of the 787. ANA will begin operating the 787-8 in mid-2008 and will also introduce the short-range 787–3 variant in 2010. Air New Zealand will launch the 787–9 into service, also in 2010.

2. Firm and option orders have been placed for a total of 179 Trent 1000-powered Boeing 787s by ANA, Air New Zealand, Icelandair, LOT Polish Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Blue Panorama, Air China, Monarch Airlines and leasing companies ILFC, Pegasus and LCAL.

3. Risk and revenue sharing partners on the Trent 1000 programme are Carlton Forge Works (fan case), Goodrich (engine control system), Hamilton Sundstrand (gearbox), ITP (low pressure turbine), KHI (intermediate compressor module) and MHI (combustor and low pressure turbine blades).

4. The Trent 1000 is the fifth member of the Trent series, the first of which entered service in 1995. By the time the Trent 1000 begins commercial operations, previous versions of the Trent will have accumulated around 35 million flying hours.

5. Rolls-Royce is working hard to improve the environmental impact of its products. Each year Rolls-Royce, in collaboration with its partners, invests around £700M on research and development, two thirds of which has the objective of reducing the environmental impact of its products. The primary technology investment area is aimed at reducing noise and emissions.