From Boeing's first GEnx flight to a GE90 tattoo tribute

There’s been a flurry of engine buzz lately when it comes to GE’s jet engines. This week marked a major milestone in the development of GE’s most advanced line of engines as the GEnx-2B powered the first flight test for Boeing’s new 747-8 Freighter. It was also the first GEnx engine to fly on a new aircraft. The flight came just days after the conclusion of the Singapore Air Show, which also created a different kind of excitement in aviation circles thanks to photos of elaborate tattoo tributes to GE’s largest engine, the GE90, that were published online to coincide with the big show.

Feeling sky high! The GEnx-powered Boeing 747-8 flew for three and a half hours in the first flight that took off from Boeing’s Paine Field outside of Seattle, Washington. The GEnx uses a carbon composite structure in the engine’s fan blades and fan case, which substantially reduces weight and makes the engines more efficient. Photo courtesy of Boeing.

Tom Brisken, general manager of the GEnx program, was on hand for the debut flight and describes the big day — and the next steps — in the audio clip below.

This year will bring more important milestones for the GEnx program as the GEnx-1B engine takes its first flight powering Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner — and the GEnx-2B-powered 747-8 Freighter is delivered to its first customer, Cargolux. The GEnx is the fastest selling engine in GE’s history with about 1,300 engines on order — and more than 400 of these orders are for the GEnx-2B engine.

Part of GE’s ecomagination portfolio, the GEnx-2B engine will offer customers a 13 percent improvement in fuel efficiency, which translates into 13 percent less CO₂ emissions. The GEnx will also dramatically reduce NOx gases as much as 60 percent below today’s regulatory limits and other regulated gases as much as 90 percent. The new engine is one of the quietest engines GE has produced with noise levels about 30 percent lower.

Meanwhile, the website tattoosinflight.com turned a few heads by featuring photos of what they rightly dub “amazing” tattoo cutaways of the GE90 engine.

Work of art: Click on the image to visit tattoosinflight.com, where it and two others can be seen in larger views.

As the author writes about the work of tattoo artist Brett J. Barr of Orlando, Florida: “I will admit, I waited a while before posting this tattoo… we wanted to display it at just the right time because we didn’t want such an amazing piece of tattoo artistry overlooked.”

“In fact, when I first saw this incredible tattoo of a General Electric GE90 turbofan engine as a cutaway image, I knew this was a feature to cherish. So now, as the aviation world looks to the future this week at the Singapore Airshow in Asia… I felt it was the perfect time to post this tattoo of the ultimate evolution in commercial aircraft engines.”

* See the GEnx engine debut at 2009 Paris Air Show
* Watch Part 1 of GE's series: Born to run: Building the GEnx jet engine
* Watch Part 2 of GE's series: In the factory: Building the GEnx jet engine
* Watch Part 3 of GE's series: The right stuff: Building the GEnx jet engine
* Watch all of the videos in the series
* Learn more about the GEnx and ecomagination