Rolls-Royce (Stand 1134) and Airbus expect to log about 120 hours’ test-flying with the new 97,000-pound-thrust Trent XWB-97 engine for the stretched A350-1000 XWB twin-aisle twinjet. This latest Trent XWB variant began about nine months’ flying when it flew for the first time on the Airbus A380 flying testbed at Toulouse, France, on November 5.

During the four-hour, 14-minute flight, the engine covered a wide range of power settings at altitudes of up to 35,000 feet, with operation and handling qualities being evaluated from low speeds to Mach 0.87. Further flight-tests will include high-temperature and icing-condition campaigns, according to Airbus.

Main objectives of this Trent XWB-97 (TXWB-97) flight testing, for which the powerplant is fitted at the A380’s No. 2 (port-side inboard) position, are to demonstrate operability and performance. It also will confirm the engine-restart envelope, according to R-R head of Trent XWB marketing Tim Boddy.

Initial flying will fine-tune TXWB-97 engine integration and “de-risk” the A350-1000’s early flight-test program. Subsequent work will concentrate on “maturity tests,” including further thermal-endurance and cyclic trials.

Alongside the flying-testbed work, the UK manufacturer is focused on “industrialization” of the 84,000-pound-thrust Trent XWB-84 (TXWB-84) as R-R ramps up production for the A350-900 XWB (for “extra wide body”). Earlier this year, the engine company completed 150 hours of TXWB-97 endurance testing, including more than 16 hours at maximum take-off thrust and 42 hours at maximum continuous thrust.

R-R has ground-run the TXWB-97 at up to 99,000 pounds’ thrust, having previously demonstrated 112,000-pounds’ thrust with an earlier -84 variant during “blade-out” testing. It also has completed TXWB-97 icing and X-ray testing, with “good results so far,” and has “high confidence” of achieving performance targets, said Boddy.

There are “huge synergies” between the parallel engine programs and “we need to gather certification evidence from bench-testing and the flying testbed before the A350-1000 first flight,” said Boddy. That event is slated for mid-2016, with the A350-1000 scheduled to enter service about 12 months later after certification work with three flight-test aircraft.

Boddy reports a “smooth transition” from Trent XWB pre-production operations, with a new build line established at its Derby (UK) factory. The first 64 production units are in assembly and 45 engines have been completed.

An update on Trent XWB-84s for current A350-900s is available in an extended version of this story at www.ainonline.com.