Originally Posted by
FlexibleResponse
And they are planning to test the engine on an Airbus A-380!
Makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Four engine aircraft, so lots of redundancy is something goes seriously wrong and does secondary damage (GE already has a 747-400 based Flying Test Bed - which replaced their 747-100 FTB). Boeing very nearly lost its 'prototype' 767 (VA-001) doing flight testing of the PW4000/94" when it went into non-recoverable surges at 50 ft. during takeoff (and the left seat pilot responded by pulling back
both thrust levers
- fortunately the guy in the right seat quickly responded by firewalling both throttles - the PW4000 responded by continuing to surge but the JT9D kept them flying).
Boeing long used the prototype 747 (RA-001) as a test bed for new engines (it's part of the Seattle Museum of Flight now). I suspect if Airbus is putting a lot of money and emphasis on the project they wouldn't want to see it flying on a 747
.
Plus, early build A380's are readily available cheap...
If this Hybrid /ac is planning to be cruising at the same altitudes as the current Jetliners, but at much lower speed, and come in big numbers to replace the A32+s , 737s and 220s, we're going to have a major capacity issue when they arrive as they will not mix well with the current fleets. Or they are going to be left below FL290
This was an issue for the 737-3/4/500 series - it cruised significantly slower than other jetliners (although quite a bit faster than 0.72 Mach) - as a result it tended to get less than optimum routing to keep it out of the way of the faster traffic. It was one of the big drivers for the 737 NG program - to modify the wing so it could cruise faster.