Wed, Jul 29, 2009
Engine Manufacture Works To Bring The HF120 Engine To
Market
By: Chris Batcheller
“We have no major announcement” said GE Honda Aero
Engine’s Bill Dwyer as he kicked off the press conference.
And, while there is no major announcement, the company is steadily
working to certify the HF120 turbine engine. The company is moving
from flying and testing demonstration engines to conforming
production engines.
Bill Dwyer
GE Honda Aero Engines has completed and tested 11 builds of
demonstration engines with 8 different cores in the last 2
years. These engines were used to collect data and ensure
that the design is sound. The HF120 engine has been designed to the
rigorous GE Aviation design standards.
The demonstration engines gave the company the opportunity to
tweak the design and fly fully instrumented engines to collect test
data. The company has also been competing component
development, including an exhaust demonstrator to prove the design.
At this point the company has frozen the design, released drawings
and is entering the formal FAA testing phase.
Bill Dwyer noted that the conforming engines will be tested to
15,000 cycles prior to any engines being delivered to customers.
That’s according to GE Aviations ETOPS standards. Bill Dwyer
noted that the HondaJet will be the first recipient of customer
engines and the second will be Spectrum Aeronautical "Freedom"
business jet.
The engine will initially be produced at GE Aviation’s
Lynn, Massachusetts facility. Later the production will be
transferred to GE Honda Aero Engine’s facility in Burlington,
North Carolina.
“The first engine to test
will run by the end of the summer, and certification testing will
continue into 2010” noted Bill Dwyer.
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