Video: GEnx Turbofan Engine Build To Flight Test In 2 Minutes

 Modern turbine engines are a lot quieter and much more fuel efficient, but they are still extremely complex and have a lot of close-tolerance parts that move pretty fast... many of them in a really hot environment.  As a result, the build process is highly specialized.  This video doesn't give a lot of detail but it does give you a really good idea of the basic work that goes into putting a big turbofan together.  This isn't just any old turbofan either, it's the General Electric GEnx engine recently developed for both the Boeing 787 and the 747-8.

 This specific example is for the 747-8 and produces somewhere around 66,000 pounds of thrust.  There's a lot of commonality between the GEnx engines, but the ones for the 747-8 retain the bleed air systems like have been used for many years.  You may already know that the 787 engines, either the GEnx engines or the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000, don't have the extensive bleed air systems since the 787 replaces most of those systems with electrics.

 This GEnx also has a slightly smaller overall diameter (105 inch fan diameter compared to 111 on the 787) to allow it to fit on the 747.  It's pretty amazing tho to see the flight tests in the video of how much larger the engine looks when hanging off the wing than the standard 747 engines.

 It's also interesting to note that the first GEnx powered 787, aircraft number ZA005, has had its first engine runs recently and should be making its first flight before long : )