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Flight tests will resume next week on Honeywell's new AS900 turbofan, with a second, more comprehensively instrumented engine replacing the PowerPoint that had racked up four hours in two flights since January 29. The first test flight lasted more than two hours with engine testing at altitudes up to 25,000 feet. Engine power settings as high as 93.6% (26,300 rpm) N2 were achieved during the testing and windmill data was collected during the descent after a scheduled engine shutdown at 23,500 feet. In the second flight the engine demonstrated full thrust at Mach 0.8 at 41,000 ft, meeting all objectives at that altitude. The break in flight-testing gave Honeywell time to push its tested Boeing 720 into the paintshop. As the test engine attracts more attention (and who could miss a VW minibus-sized protuberance on the side fuselage of a Boeing?), the powers that be decided it was time for AlliedSignal's name and livery to be retired from the venerable workhorse. |
AS900 Flies in Record Time
Asian Aerospace 2000 -- "It's not every day you get to do something like this," an excited Steve Loranger told Show News after the successful first flight of Honeywell's new AS900 engine for the Avro RJX and Bombardier Continental business jet. "It's really something to take a clean sheet of paper, design it the way you want it, and then fly it!"
The January 29 flight of the AS900 on Honeywell's Boeing 720 testbed marked a number of major firsts for Honeywell said Loranger, president of engines and systems at Honeywell:
- The fastest engine development ever at Honeywell (and its predecessor AlliedSignal), taking only 12 months from initial design to first run, and another 18 months to first flight. Design to delivery will be 3-1/2 years, paring 12 months off previous programs.
- The first fully integrated propulsion developed by Honeywell, including engine, nacelle, thrust reversers, control systems and all engine mounted accessories and plumbing.
- The largest fan propulsion engine built by Honeywell.
- The first test of a new data collection and real-time telemetry system that will allow measurement of up to 500 parameters on the test engine.
Partners with Honeywell in the Integrated Powerplant System (IPPS) include GKN Westland (nacelle), ITP of Spain and Orenda of Canada (static structural parts), Tech Span Aero, and AIDC of Taiwan (responsibility for the fan).
The AS900 is a 7,000-pound-thrust-class engine with a 34.2-inch fan and a bypass ratio of 4.2. The engine is configured with four axial compressor stages, including two variable-geometry stators, a single centrifugal compressor, an effusion-cooled combustor, a two-stage high-pressure turbine and a three-stage low-pressure turbine driving a high-efficiency fan. All discs in the AS900 are designed for a 15,000-cycle life, and the engine will be offered with an on-condition maintenance program from introduction into service, or, for those choosing fixed maintenance periods, mature hot section and compressor zone inspection intervals set at 3,500 hours and 7,000 hours, respectively.
By John Morris
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