Engine Alliance GP7200 achieves FAA certification

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted airworthiness certification to the Engine Alliance GP7200 engine, the leading powerplant for the Airbus A380. The FAR 33 certification follows an extensive ground and flight-test program that involved eight engines over 21 months. During its development and certification program the GP7200 ran some 7,000 cycles, 25 full-scale engine certification tests and more than 50 component tests, and powered two flight-test programs on a flying test bed. The engine is initially certified at 76,500 pounds of thrust and has the capability to produce over 81,500 pounds with the same bill of material. During its certification program the engine was tested at thrust levels in excess of 94,000 pounds.