Post by Don Gieseke on Jul 2, 2012 4:19:51 GMT -6
Business Courier
An engine made by Cincinnati-based CFM International Inc. has established a new world record for uninterrupted time on wing – more than 50,000 hours without a visit to the repair shop.
The CFM56-7B engine flown by German holiday carrier TUIfly on a twin-engine Boeing 737-800 plane was recently removed and replaced only after the first life-limited engine part reached its preset maximum. Until its removal, the engine continued to perform flawlessly and show very good exhaust-gas temperature margin, CFM said in a news release this week. Exhaust-gas temperature margin is the primary indictor of an engine’s fuel efficiency.
By the time it was taken off the plane, the record-setting engine has logged 23,776,595 flight miles and 17,596 take-offs and landings since 1999.
The previous record had been set by a CFM56-3 engine on an earlier-generation 737 in 2003 when it achieved 40,000 hours on wing without a shop visit. The new record holder surpassed that mark in 2009. CFM56 engines average about 28,000 hours before a shop visit.
The hot cores for CFM56 engines are made by Evendale-based GE Aviation. CFM is a 50/50 joint venture of GE and France’s Snecma, part of the Safran Group. Final assembly and testing of CFM56 engines delivered to North American customers is done at GE facilities in Evendale and Peebles.
TUIfly was able to keep the engine on wing through continuous diagnostics, which enabled the maintenance team to optimize the maintenance intervals for the engine. In addition, the airline implemented periodic engine washes that prolonged the life of the engines and helped to reduce fuel consumption, CFM said.
“On behalf of the entire CFM team, I extend my warmest congratulations to everyone at TUIfly for this remarkable achievement,” Jean-Paul Ebanga, president and CEO of CFM, said in the release. “We believe we build the most reliable engines in the air, but we know that it is our customers that keep them flying. What the TUIfly operations and maintenance teams have achieved with this engine is truly impressive.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
An engine made by Cincinnati-based CFM International Inc. has established a new world record for uninterrupted time on wing – more than 50,000 hours without a visit to the repair shop.
The CFM56-7B engine flown by German holiday carrier TUIfly on a twin-engine Boeing 737-800 plane was recently removed and replaced only after the first life-limited engine part reached its preset maximum. Until its removal, the engine continued to perform flawlessly and show very good exhaust-gas temperature margin, CFM said in a news release this week. Exhaust-gas temperature margin is the primary indictor of an engine’s fuel efficiency.
By the time it was taken off the plane, the record-setting engine has logged 23,776,595 flight miles and 17,596 take-offs and landings since 1999.
The previous record had been set by a CFM56-3 engine on an earlier-generation 737 in 2003 when it achieved 40,000 hours on wing without a shop visit. The new record holder surpassed that mark in 2009. CFM56 engines average about 28,000 hours before a shop visit.
The hot cores for CFM56 engines are made by Evendale-based GE Aviation. CFM is a 50/50 joint venture of GE and France’s Snecma, part of the Safran Group. Final assembly and testing of CFM56 engines delivered to North American customers is done at GE facilities in Evendale and Peebles.
TUIfly was able to keep the engine on wing through continuous diagnostics, which enabled the maintenance team to optimize the maintenance intervals for the engine. In addition, the airline implemented periodic engine washes that prolonged the life of the engines and helped to reduce fuel consumption, CFM said.
“On behalf of the entire CFM team, I extend my warmest congratulations to everyone at TUIfly for this remarkable achievement,” Jean-Paul Ebanga, president and CEO of CFM, said in the release. “We believe we build the most reliable engines in the air, but we know that it is our customers that keep them flying. What the TUIfly operations and maintenance teams have achieved with this engine is truly impressive.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
