Aerospace Perceptions closed out 2022 acknowledging the final Boeing 747 ever built, while looking back at some of that great platform’s many variations.
So, it seems appropriate enough to start 2023 with a look at
one more 747 variation – one I was happily reminded of during an early 2023
commercial broadcast during Monday Night Football.
GE Aerospace has long depended on the 747 platform for
in-air engine testing. In fact, the 2018 retirement of GE’s first 747 test
aircraft marked the conclusion of that plane’s 49th year in the
skies, as it was the last flying example of the very first 747 model. That
hardy 747-100 flew for Pan Am from 1969 until 1991, when it “retired” into a
life with GE for 24 more years!
More recently – and starring in GE’s current round of
broadcast commercials – the aerospace company relies on the “GE Propulsion Test Platform” seen above. Acquired
by GE in 2001, this 747-400 served as the testbed for the state-of-the-art GE9X
jet engine powering Boeing 777X aircraft. The expanded dimensions of this large
turbofan engine are easily noted in the photograph, with the GE9X dwarfing the
outboard standard-size 747 engine.
Amazingly, there are even variations of older-yet-fully-reliable
aircraft still regularly pressed into service, like the above jet operated by
Omega Aerial Refueling Services. Omega is the first commercial entity to offer
air-to-air refueling services, and among its fleet is the “Omega Tanker” seen
here. Yes, it’s based on the venerable Boeing 707, an aircraft which first
entered commercial service back in 1958. Omega supplements the refueling
capabilities of our armed forces, providing support to Navy and Marine Corps
aircraft ranging from the F-35 to the V-22 – and even the unmanned experimental
X-47B.
RESOURCES
GE Aerospace GE9X Engine: https://www.geaerospace.com/propulsion/commercial/ge9x
GE Aerospace broadcast commercial (15 seconds): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK5pRKuA20w
Omega Aerial Refueling Services: http://www.omegaairrefueling.com/
