Engines
Pratt sees GFT in widebody by late next decade
Confidence in Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan (GTF) program is such that company president Steve Finger is talking about a potential widebody application

Confidence in Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan (GTF) program is such that company president Steve Finger is talking about a potential widebody application for the engine. “We’re looking at that for late next decade,” he told Aviation International News.

The 30,000-pound-thrust demonstrator engine is due to be run up in November and is expected to take to the air aboard a converted Boeing 747 next summer. “We feel pretty good about a mid-year flight test date,” said Finger.
The company has logged more than 1,800 hours of tests on the GTF drive system. “Our current technology readiness plan is to run more than 4,000 additional test hours on the fan drive gear system through 2008, including more than 1,000 hours before the first flight test next year,” he said.