CELT Rete st caer) Teco Reet eit- Boeing 757 Engine Changed After First By Richard G, O'Lono Renton, Wash.—Bocing's effort to fight fest two new transports. simultaneously was slowed last week while one of the 4757's engines was changed as a precau: tionary measure following an incident near the end of the twinjet’s first fight Feb. 19, ‘The 757°s No. 2 engine, which stalled due to an inadvertent blast of high- pressure air while at fight idle, was shut down and restarted, allowing the 2-hr. 31-min. fist flight (0 end with a normal landing The larger 767 experienced a severed hydraulic line on its first fight last fall (awasr Oct, 5, 1981, p. 28). In the 757 case, the problem did not interfere with Flight objectives, according to project test pilot John H. Armstrong. “We achieved everything we intended to do on the first fight, nd everything worked just as advertised," he said S-L, (Lew) Wallick, director of flight test for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Co, was copilot for this ight ‘The problem involving the No. 2 Rolls- Royce RB.211-535C engine came about 15-20 min. before the No. 1 757 was to land at Paine Field, at Everett, Wash.— bout 40 mi. north of Seattle. At the time, the No. 2 engine intentionally had been brought dovin to fight idle, while the No. 1 engine remained at flight power. This was part of the control checks, according to John B, Winch, BCAC’s director of fight test engineering. For a reason yet unknown, a valve was left open in the interconnect system between the engines, allowing high-pres- sure bleed air (0 flow from the engine ‘operating at flight power to the engine at Aight idle, Winch said, “This created a stall condition,” Winch said. “When the crew tried to bring the engine from idle to full power by moving the throttle forward, it did not respond. ‘They shut it down, went through a restart, which was perfectly normal, and then they landed in perfectly normal fashion.” ‘A joint Rolls-Royce/Bocing statement said the incident occurred during “asym- ‘metrical thrust checks” and that the stall condition “resulted in the engine tempera tre increasing.” The engine was borescoped, and even though no damage was detected, it was ‘decided to change the engine as @ precat- tionary measure, Winch said. A spare engine, built for this purpose, was avail- able, but installation required more time than it would have normally because of the necessity to attach Might test instru ‘mentation, he sae This delay did not cause concern about the aireraft’s overall schedule. “You allow for this sort of thing,” Winch said, and noted that a lay-up of 3t least three days is standard after any first fight. In addition, the aireraft—more complete at rollout than any previous Boeing transport (wast Jan. 18, p.24)—already had beaten by a week the first Night date of Feb. 26 set several years ago. ‘The confidence that Boeing displayed in flying the 767 less than 24 hr. after it first moved under its own power Was carried ‘ver to the 757, which might have sur- passed that achievement but for the Puget Sound area’s unpredictable February weather. ‘On Feb. 19, the fighterew took advan- tage of a break in a series of rainstorms and rolled the aireraft under its own power at 105 p.m. at Renton Municipal Aieport (awast Feb. 22, p.33) to conduct taxi tests. After only three runs—a considera bly briefer exercise than even the 761s abbreviated taxi tests—the 757 returned to the flight line, just ahead of another shower. The brake system performed well and the aircraft handled well, and there was nothing else to do,” Winch said. At this point, all was ready for a 10 a.m. flight the following day, but pecsst- ent heavy rains caused a series of post onemenis and finally 2 midday decision to serub for the day. VFR conditions were needed for the ight. ‘On Feb. 19, the weather still was threat: ‘ning, but now the concern centered on wind. Because it was a first fight, the Federal Aviation Administration required that the 757 take off to the aorth over Lake Washington, rather than south into the wind—a path thai would have taken the aireraft over populated areas. A Boe: ing weather station had been Set up on the ficld and was recording tal winds of about 16 Kt. steadily throughout the morning — ‘unacceptable conditions for a downwind ‘vation Wook & Space Techrolosy, March 1, 1982 | | |Flight takeoff from the 5,300-ft. runway. Al- though the crew had been prepared again Tor a 10 a.m. takeoff, they were not ‘optimistic and were surprised when condi- tions began to change “It started to get a little blue down around Seattle so we thought we'd beiter {get ready (0 g0, justin case it broke open, and it did,” Armstrong sad. ‘At 10:35 a.m, the red, white and blue twinjet taxied to the south end of the fel and with the skies clearing, attention cen- “The 757 transport ifs off from the Renton, Wash., Municipal Aiport Feb. 19 on its first fight. The standard-body twnjet aircraft Kicked up moisture from the runway as the Crew took advantage of a break in the wet, ‘windy weather to accomplish the fight [No, 1 Boeing 757 transport rals into a turn ‘over Puget Sound area during its frst ight Feb. 18. Decals of the seven aiines that have ordered 198 of the 176-passengor ‘winjats are onthe forward fuselage tered on the wind. “There was a wind Sock, and it looked like it was in kind of a Tull, so we decided it was time to go.” ‘Wallick aid. The tail wind had dropped to just under 10 Kt “The crew brought the engines up to power and moved the Ovinjet transport own the runway a short distance and then braked, in what Winch described as a ‘short taxi tes.” The 757 then returned to the ead of the runway and started its takeof roll ‘At a toss weight of 185,000 1b. the siteraft rotated at 125 kt. and lifted off Smoothly after « roll of about 3,700 ft. Tt climbed out over Lake Washington at 135, Ik, and sas joined shortly by a Bosing- ‘owned North American F-86 clase air- craft During the comparatively long. first flight, the crew achieved all of the fight objectives, and formed up with a Boeing 727 photo aircraft for a 40-min, picture session over the straits of Juan de Fuca, ‘The landing gear was retracted for most of the fight, Traditionally, the gear is not Tetracted for first lights, and the decision ta do so on the 767 had been debated. In that case, the nose pear severed a hydrau- lie line during retraction. ‘With the 787, cycling of the gear was uneventful. ‘Other objectives achieved included checking the aireraft at all flap settings land all speeds below 250 Kt, as well as inital buffet at each flap seiting, Arm= strong sai. Initial buffet wes encountered within 1-2 kt. of predictions, he said. Max- imum altitude was 17,500 fi “Trailing cones were deployed during the flight to check the calibration of the air- speed recorded on board, Winch ssid They verified that “the on-board data was very accurate,” he sad ‘A plan to perform a flyby at 500 ft before landing at Paine Field was scratched because rain clouds were mox- ing in from the south, Armstrong said ‘Winds were faily high on final approach, and the reference approach speed was 122 ket, with an additional 15 kt. allowed for wind. Touchdown and rollout were unev: entful ‘The 757 landed at Paine Fielé, adjacent to Boeing's 747/767 final assembly facili ty, Because the area is lightly populated. It will operate from there for about 10 fight hours until it proves to the FAA a level of airwerthiness that will allow it to operate ‘over populated areas. At that point, it will ‘move to the Bocing Flight Center at Seat- t's Boeing Field, headquarters for the Imassive 767/757 fight test effor (AWaST Feb, 15, p42), ‘The initial objective of the fights from Bocing Field will be to clear the flutter envelope —a task achieved in record time on the 767. Certification of the 757 is scheduled for December, 1982, with frst delivery that ‘month to Bastera Airlines. ‘The 757 isthe focus of a battle between Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. Ini- tially, the aiteraft will be equipped with the 37,400-Ib.-thrust Rolls-Royce RB.211-535C, but in late 1984, some airlines will begin receiving 7575 powered by the Pratt & Whitney 37,000-1bthrust Pw2037. ‘The PW2037 will be fligh-tested_ in 1983 on the Bocing-owned No. 1747 swide-body transport, as will the Rolls: Royee RB. 211-535E4—the British frm’s answer to the improved fuel efficiency claimed for the PW2037. Following the 747 ‘test program, both engines will be flight tested on 757s in 1984.