EBACE Show News - May 21, 2008 - (Page 60)

EBACE 2008 Snecma Silvercrest Prospects Brighten Prospects for Snecma’s radical Silvercrest engine winning its first application on a business jet have improved after successful trials that ended just six weeks ago. That’s the belief of François Planaud, vp and general manager for commercial engines at Snecma. “It met all forecasts and in some areas performed better than expected,” he said of the 9,500- to 12,000-pounds-thrust Silvercrest. Meanwhile Snecma is in “active discussion” with several business jet manufacturers as it tries to break into the business jet market. Silvercrest is aimed at midrange/high-end business jets with large cabins and a maximum takeoff weight of between 45,000 and 60,000 lb. “All the business jet manufacturers have projects in this category,“ says Planaud. Silvercrest lost its first competition, at Dassault, to Rolls-Royce. “That was very disappointing, but we learned a lot,” says Planaud. He adds that Snecma did not compete on the Cessna Columbus or Embraer MSJ and MLJ large-cabin jets as they required engines below the thrust class of Silvercrest. “So we have had only one competition core and power shafts to improve the transition between the highand low-pressure turbines, bring Silvercrest in with just 10 stages of turbomachinery compared to 21 stages on the similar thrust but 25-year-old AE3007 that powers the Embraer Legacy and Cessna Citation. Counter-rotation hasn’t been used in mass-produced engines before, but is being considered for future generations of the CFM56 airliner engine. The low-pressure turbine will have three stages and will drive a fan with wide-chord swept blades like the CFM56. Planaud points to the relative simplicity of the engine and its lower parts count as enabling lower acquisition and maintenance costs, while Snecma can look to its worldwide support operations for the CFM56 airliner engine as the basis for Silvercrest support around the globe. —John Morris Silvercrest is aimed at mid-range, high-end bizjets—of which there are many. to date”—implying that several more large-cabin business jets could be announced late this year or early in 2009. Silvercrest aims to set a new benchmark for business jet engines with a 25% improvement in cruise thrust, a noise level up to 30 dB quieter than current Stage III noise requirements, a 15% reduction in fuel burn, and a 50% margin in NOx emissions over current CAEP 6 standards. Snecma has departed from the norm in choosing to use a centrifugal compressor stage in com- bination with four axial stages. The centrifugal compressor offers more efficient compression and a larger compression ratio than an axial stage, so it does the job of two axial stages and thus reduces weight, size and parts count, the company believes. A single-stage high-pressure turbine, and counter-rotating Silvercrest Core Has Been Built Snecma claims to be bustor and emissions, the first of the 10K conthe performance of the tenders to invest in high-pressure turbine running actual hardand overall operability ware. It completed initial right up to redline,” tests of Silvercrest’s said François Planaud, high-pressure core at vp and general manthe end of March, rackager for commercial François Planaud. ing up 80 hours of engines at Snecma. operation at a maximum core “The results fully matched speed of 20,300 rpm. our expectations, and, in some The test core comprised the parameters of performance and new centrifugal-axial compresbehavior, exceeded them. sor developed by Snecma and “I think we are demonstrating Turbomeca, the combustor and that we have a very sound and efficient engine design, he added. the single stage high-pressure “We now have all the ingrediturbine. ents to design the optimum “We measured compressor engine for that thrust class.” efficiency, evaluated the com- Aero Toy Store to Open Display Center in France Aero Toy Store is to open ‘Display Centers’ in France. COO Ben Shirazi says the company plans to open them at south of France airports and will announce the locations here at EBACE, where it is exhibiting aircraft in the Static Display. The specialist business aviation airport at Cannes-Mandelieu has been mooted as a possible site because of its proximity to Monaco. These will be Aero Toy Store’s first facilities outside North America. The move comes as a direct response to the growth of its business outside of the U.S., currently running at some 75%, and will service a burgeoning customer base in the Middle East, Russia and Europe. —Mike Vines 60 May 21, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EBACE Show News - May 21, 2008

A318 Elite is on a Roll A Circle Around London P&WC Deliveries Triple Avanti Sees Sales Shift RUAG Eyes Needy Cabins Global Gets Even NICEr Embraer Beefs Up Support Honeywell ‘Virtual VFR’ Signature Europe Grows Gestair Seeks to Double Aero-Dienst Turns 50 Gama Doubles in Size All is Not Woe with Oil Ocean Sky is Aggressive

EBACE Show News - May 21, 2008

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