14 May 2015

The A380 flying testbed MSN001 will be used for A350-1000´s Trent XWB-97 evaluation.

The 97,000-lb.-thrust engine due to fly after summer is the first of 2 units destined for initial evaluation flights on the Airbus A380 flying testbed MSN001, and will be used for evaluating engine operability, relights and handling.


Source: Airbus


Beyond engine- specific testing, Airbus also intends to use the XWB-97 on the A380 for integrated nacelle tests.
“It will do this to take credit for A350 certification and flights will run well into 2016, so it is not a short program,” said Simon Burr,  Rolls-Royce’s COO for Civil Large Engines.



Source: Rolls Royce

The first A350-1000 is due to fly in mid-2016 and is scheduled to enter service in 2017, 2 years after the Trent XWB-84-powered A350-900. 
Unlike the -84, which first flew on the A380 in February/2012, the higher- thrust engine Trent XWB-97 will not have undergone simulated altitude evaluation in a test cell before it takes to the air on the flying testbed.



Source: Airbus

“On the -84 we did altitude work in North America (at the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee), whereas on the -97 we are using the A380 for flight-test data at altitude,” said Burr.
“We’ve already proved the basics from the -84 and we can get useful data off that,” he added.
Based on the article “Rolls-Royce Building First XWB-97 For Flight Tests” published in Aviation Week.

7 comments:

  1. is RR now using carbon blades for these engine?

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  2. Not for 97k. Not sure why theres a picture of a GE Leap-X fan on this article??

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  3. Really good to hear Rolls Royce are on the ball with this engine. First time that I have heard about the A350-1000 production run.That means that the 777x9 will only be two years behind,so lets hope the "ramp up" doesn't take as long as the A350-900-still only three delivered this year!
    Any news on the A350-1100 or is that a well kept secret as too?

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    1. 1) there is no A350-1100. 2) the 1st 779 will roll out of the FAL door in 2018, 1 year behind the A35J, not 2. 3) Airbus has bigger fish to fry than trying to develop a derivative of the A35J.

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  4. Picture fixed. Thanks for your comments.

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  5. The A350 ramp up is exactly where Airbus said it would be. Airbus quote their rate as when aircraft START production not delivered.

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