The first pair of Trent 1000 engines has been shipped by Rolls-Royce for installation on the Boeing 787, a company spokesman said.

The engines were dispatched from the company’s facilities in Derby, UK facilities as per schedule, he added. 

Director of Boeing Programmes at Rolls-Royce Dominic Horwood 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 am sure all those involved, especially our Trent 1000 customers, will share our excitement when the 787 is revealed for the first time,” he observed.

According to Horwood, 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.

He said the 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 tests required for engine certification by the airworthiness authorities later this year.

“It included a 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. - TradeArabia News Service