Garuda gets first Trent-powered Airbus A300-300s

The first of Garuda's six Airbus A330-300 planes, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, is scheduled to arrive in Jakarta today from Airbus Industrie in Toulouse, France. The Jakarta Post sent its reporter Akmal Syams on an Indonesian media tour of Rolls-Royce's base in Derby, England. He wrote the following articles.

DERBY, England (JP): Passengers bound for Hong Kong, Taipei, Japan, Guangzhou and Australia from Indonesia will soon be able to fly Garuda Indonesia's newest jetliners powered by one of the world's most powerful and environmentally friendly aircraft engines, the Rolls-Royce Trent 700.

Today's delivery of Garuda's first Trent 700-powered Airbus A330-300 aircraft is the latest chapter in Rolls-Royce's and the Indonesian national flag carrier's relationship which began more than a quarter of a century ago.

The British engine maker first sold Garuda Spey engines for its fleet of Fokker F28 regional jets.

Garuda's latest purchase are Trent 700s from Rolls-Royce's newest and strongest turbofan engine series. The first of the series went into service in March 1995 for Cathay Pacific.

David Wick, the senior vice president for sales and marketing of Rolls-Royce Commercial Aero Engines Limited, told a group of Indonesian journalists here recently that development of the Trent engine began in 1988 and the engine was first operated in July 1992.

"It went through a more comprehensive and intensive set of certification tests than any previous Rolls-Royce engine. It came through punishing tests simulating the worst imaginable hail and rain storms, and proved its ability to survive bird strike by flocks and large single birds, and to contain a detached fan blade."

"All these were successfully completed, and were backed by endurance testing at extreme operational conditions -- accelerating thousands of hours of "service" experience," Wick said.

Certificates

The Trent 700 was certificated at 72,000lb thrust in December 1993 by Europe's Joint Airworthiness Authorities and soon after by the United States' Federal Aviation Administration. The engine was first tested in an A330 at Airbus Industrie's flight test center in Toulouse, France, in January 1994. A year later, the engine-airframe combination was certificated for airlines. Development of the Trent 700's big brother, the Trent 800, followed about a year later: it was tested in September 1993, certificated in January 1995, debuted in the Boeing 777 in May 1995 and began service operations with Thai Airways International in March this year.

Trent marketing head James E. Sheard said Rolls-Royce developed the Trent series to meet increasing demand for more economical and environmentally-friendly engines: "So, the Trent is, actually, Rolls-Royce's answer to the new market development."

Airlines' needs were paramount when leading aircraft makers began designing a new generation of wide-bodied airplanes.

"With the aircraft needing to carry up to 350 passengers, the engines must be more powerful than ever before, and more reliable, quieter and fuel efficient," Sheard said.

Compared to its competitors, Trents had the shortest take-off field length, best payload range, lowest operating cost (lowest fuel burn) and were the quietest (large margin to emission regulations), he said.

Based on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) committee for aviation and environmental protection's emission rules, the Trent 700 makes less smoke than the PW4164 and CF6- 80E1A2.

For take-off performance, Trent 800 is 200 feet better than PW4090 and GE90-90B.

Sheard said the Trent 700 and 800 had secured a large share of the wide-body twin-jet market.

Garuda Indonesia, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways International, Dragonair, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, GulfAir, Emirates, TWA and International Lease Finance Corporation are using Trent engines in their aircraft. They have ordered US$5 billion worth of engines for 200 airplanes. A Trent 700 engine costs about $11 million.

Many of the customers are from the fast-growing Asia-Pacific market, where Trent has had remarkable success supplying engines for almost half of the Boeing 777/Airbus 330 aircraft ordered there. It has a 35 percent of the same market worldwide.

Dr. Robin Singleton, the head of Rolls-Royce International's Jakarta office, told The Jakarta Post that Rolls-Royce was promoting Trent 800 engines to Garuda Indonesia.

"We are currently briefing Garuda about the suitability of the Trent 800 for the Boeing 777s which Garuda has ordered," he said.

Garuda has ordered six long-range 777-200s as part of a US$1.6 billion order for 23 Boeing jets to be delivered between 1997 and 2002.

Rolls-Royce, Pratt and Whitney and General Electric produce engines for the B777s. Garuda has not yet decided which company's engines it will use for the B777s.

Three-shafts

The Trent has built on the proven three-shaft RB211 series, produced by a BMW-Rolls-Royce joint venture. It has retained key reliability features such as hollow titanium wide-chord fan blades -- the accepted industry leader at coping with foreign object ingestion -- and has added latest technology such as a 3-D aerodynamic design, new materials and coatings and advanced cooling.

Dr. G. A. Fitzpatrick, Rolls-Royce's Aerospace Group project manager, said the three-shaft design lets its low, intermediate and high pressure systems run at their optimum aerodynamic speeds, giving the engine flexibility and economy and making it shorter, more robust and lighter than other engines.

"As for an example, a pair of Trents on the Boeing 777 is up to three tons lighter than competing engines," he said.

The hollow titanium wide-chord fan blades, produced with state-of-the-art technology, are the pride of Rolls-Royce. The fan provides about 75 percent of engine take-off thrust and must resist the fatigue stresses of flying.

The company has developed unique manufacturing technologies for hollow titanium fabrications with lightweight internal cores. The first generation of wide chord fan blades with honeycomb cores was in service in 1984. The second generation components with super-plastic formed cores went into service last year.

Rolls-Royce has invested 30 million pounds (about $49.8 million) in its manufacturing plant in Barnoldswick, Colne, in Lancashire. The plant produces 25 wide-chord fan blades a month.

New generation

Computer-based design and analysis have accelerated engine development, and computer modeling can be used by many departments in Rolls-Royce.

The Trent's creation has brought simultaneous engineering a large step closer.

This will boost development of the Trent 900, an engine option for Boeing 747-500X/600X and A3XX four-engine high-capacity aircraft which are due to start flying early next decade.

Based on the Trent 800, the 900 is in the 75,000-80,000lb thrust class. It will incorporate a scaled fan and modified turbine components, giving a higher by-pass ratio and more fuel efficiency. It is expected to meet and beat all current and anticipated noise and emissions regulations.

Its proven pedigree will give it a head start on its competitors for the "super jumbos" of the next millennium.

Award

The state-of-the-art Trent engine has been recognized by the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award Trust, an independent body based in London. The Trent won this year's MacRobert Award, which consists of a gold medal and a 50,000 pound ($83,298) prize. The award was presented by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to five engineers representing Rolls-Royce at Buckingham Palace late last month.

The trust has provided annual awards to individuals or engineering teams for outstanding achievements since 1969.

This is the third time that Rolls-Royce has won the MacRobert Award, Britain's premier award for engineering innovation. The company won the award for the Harrier jump-jet's Pegassus engine in 1969, and for a high-energy X-ray inspection system used during engine testing in 1985.