Photo of the day – The huge A380 Engine

See also my own photos of the enormous Airbus A380 Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine:

a380-engine.jpga380-engine3.jpga380-engine2.jpg

The Trent 900 family is designed to power the Airbus A380, for which it is the launch engine. It comes in two thrust ratings, 70,000 and 76,000 lbf (311 and 338 kN) but is capable of achieving 84,000 lbf (374 kN). It features a significant amount of technology inherited from the 8104 demonstrator including its 2.95 m diameter swept-back fan which provides greater thrust for the same engine size, and is also about 15 per cent lighter than previous wide-chord blades. It is also the first member of the Trent family to feature a contra-rotating HP spool and uses the core of the very reliable Trent 500. It is the only A380 engine that can be transported on a Boeing 747 freighter.

In October 2000, the Trent 900 received its first order when Singapore Airlines specified the engine for its order for 10 A380s, quickly followed by Qantas in February 2001. The Trent 900 made its maiden flight on May 17, 2004 on Airbus’ A340-300 testbed, replacing the port inner CFM56-5 engine, and its final certification was achieved on 29 October 2004.

More information about the Trent 900 on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Trent

5 thoughts on “Photo of the day – The huge A380 Engine”

  1. GREAT photo!

    Havwe seen a few of Singapore Aurlines femal cabin crew sitting in the engine and the engine seems much smaller compared to them. Thus my quesitons is, is the man in the photo way BEHIND the engine rather tahn under the wing as it seems?

    thanks
    look forward to your reply,

    Lindsay Ferguson

  2. Hi Lindsay,
    yes you’re right. The man on this photo is behind the engine.
    The Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine has a fan diameter of 2,95m. (the Engine Alliance GP7200 has nearly the same size, with a fan diameter of 2,96m)

  3. Hi Michael

    Thanks for this! Still a massive engine either way – and there are 4 of them!

    Here’s another question I don’t know if you’ll be able to answer… If the Rolls Royce engine works, why the need for one made by Engine Alliance – or vice versa? Surely the efficiency of one would be better than the other – then airlines would choose one over the other all the time? Or is one better for certain types of flight?

    Anyhow, thanks for your great photo and above reply.

    Best wishes

    Lindsay Ferguson

  4. Well, it’s all about choice. Why to buy a Mercedes if you can have a BMW? 😉

    One airline chooses Rolls Royce because from their point of view it’s the best choice, like Singapore Airlines, for another airline it makes sense to choose EA, like Emirates.

    One criteria might be the price, one the efficiency, one maybe the maintenance costs.

    The Trent 900 has a weight of 6,4 kg and a thrust of 356 kN (80.000 lbf) – Thrust-to-weight ratio: 4.93 – 5.63
    The GP7200 has a weight of 6,7 kg – so it’s heavier than the Trent900 – but offers a little bit more thrust, 363 kN (81,500 lbf) – Thrust-to-weight ratio: 4.73

    In certain situations one might have a better fuel consumption than its competitor.

    I don’t think that you can say that one engine is better than the other, it’s just a choice airlines have to make, based on various factors.