ZA005 First Flight from Liz Matzelle on Vimeo.
ZA005 – Reg: N787FT – Serial No: 40694 – Final Assembly: January 28, 2009
With ZA005’s first flight now marked in the logbooks of Capts. Mike Bryan and Mike Carriker, the first of two GEnx-powered 787 test aircraft have kicked off flight test operations to certify the new airframe-engine combination, which result in first delivery to Royal Air Maroc in the first quarter of 2011.
The first 3h and 48min flight are the first of an expected 670 flight test hours expected to be accumulated by ZA005 and ZA006, both powered by the 64,000lb rated version of the GEnx-1B engine. Both aircraft are expected to take part in 600h of ground testing as well.
The -1B, like the -2B flying today on the 747-8F, features a carbon fiber fan casing and fan blades, as we well as the Twin-Annular Premixing Swirler combustor, which results in a low and more uniform flame temperatures to reduce NOx emissions.
ZA005 is a fully instrumented aircraft with a complete data system on board, and will focus on performance testing of the GEnx-1B64 engine. Other instrumentation on Dreamliner Five includes an icing probe, dye rack and load banks testing on the electrical system.
The aircraft will also take part in additional structural flutter and aerodynamics performance tests with the new engine on the wing. The aircraft will also undergo stability and control (S&C) testing and will take part in systems functionality and reliability (F&R) trials for Extended Twin-Engine Operations (ETOPS) certification.
The new GE engine, like its Trent 1000 stablemate, will also undergo community noise in Glasgow, Montana to establish the acoustic profile of the aircraft.
One feature designed into the 787 was an engine-change option allowing the powerplants to be swapped out by customers. Lessors requested the option to allow airlines to switch engines to match airframes with existing fleets or maintenance plans. While the pylons, which are built by Spirit AeroSystems are unique to each engine type, the wing-pylon interface is common across both GE and R-R pylons and enables the switch.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.