Aviation

Video: Boeing completes first 787 Dreamliner GEnx engine runs

The first General Electric GEnx engines on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner came to life this week with initial engine starts. Customers can choose between the GEnx engines and the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines to power their 787s.

“This is another exciting step in our progress on the Boeing 787 test program,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 Program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Our partners at GE have worked diligently to ensure their engines are ready for the testing that is going to occur both before first flight of ZA005 and throughout the flight test program.”

Following engine testing, ZA005, the fifth 787 to be built, will undergo a series of ground tests similar to those conducted on the first 787s to ensure that it is ready for first flight later this quarter.

Video: Boeing unveils unmanned Phantom Ray demonstrator

The Boeing Company have unveiled the fighter-sized Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system, a test bed for advanced technologies.

“We are on a fast track, and first flight is in sight,” said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works. “Phantom Ray is on schedule to fly in December, about two years after this project began. This is a tremendous accomplishment for Boeing and the Phantom Ray team.”

Phantom Ray is scheduled to begin taxi tests this summer. The first flight in December will be followed by up to nine additional flights over approximately six months. Phantom Ray is designed to support potential missions that may include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; suppression of enemy air defenses; electronic attack; strike; and autonomous aerial refueling.

“The initial flights will take Phantom Ray through its paces for the flight test profile. Beyond that, the missions and systems tested will be determined by future warfighter needs,” said Craig Brown, Phantom Ray program manager for Boeing.

Phantom Ray, which evolved from the X-45C program, is one of several programs in the Phantom Works division of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Phantom Works uses rapid prototyping initiatives to design, develop and build advanced aircraft and then demonstrate their capabilities.

Key Phantom Ray suppliers include General Electric-Aviation (propulsion and power distribution), Honeywell (brake system), Woodward-HRT (flight control actuation system), Crane Hydro-Aire (brake controls) and Heroux-Devtek (landing gear).

Video: Volcanic ash fact-finding mission

A German research plane has taken to the skies above Iceland in order to measure the amount of ash still in the atmosphere following the volcanic eruption that grounded air traffic in Europe.