By GE Reports staff
The Paris Air Show starts this weekend and Boeing is bringing a brand new Dreamliner aircraft powered by a pair of GEnx engines. In preparation for the show, the plane just performed some heart-stopping acrobatics that hopefully none of us will ever have to experience during a routine flight, including what seems to be near-vertical lift off.
The GEnx (below) is GE’s most advanced commercial jet engine in service. It’s so powerful that five of them together can produce the same thrust at sea level as one Space Shuttle rocket engine
The GEnx is one of the world’s largest and most powerful jet engines. Image credit: GE/Adam Senatori
But the engine is also up to 15 percent more efficient than comparable GE engines, quieter, and generates fewer carbon dioxide emissions. In 2011, a Dreamliner equipped with the engine flew halfway around the world on a tank of gas, and then finished the job on the next tank.
The journey set a weight-class distance record for the 10,337-nautical-mile first leg, and also a record for the quickest-round-the-world flight for this class of plane: 42 hours and 27 minutes.
GIF and video credits: Boeing