Forever fascinated at the size of wide body engines

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eternalshackleford@reddit

The size of just planes in general fascinates me. Like, I know on paper how truly massive they are. And it's not like I don't fly very much. But you got a museum and stand under a wing or one of the landing gear, and I'm always taken a bit aback. Even understanding the physics of flight, it seems almost impossible for something that large to even fly

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Weary_Bat2456@reddit

I visited an air museum with my family a few years ago, and it had some abandoned planes outside. I went off alone, walked around them alone, photographed them, stood under them - admired their beauty. Even though they're so massive, I felt so at peace. Nothing but me and a massive chunk of what humans can make.

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IthacanPenny@reddit

I have a small collection of 1:400 scale models. Whenever I look at the narrow bodies side by side with the wide bodies, it just feels wrong! The size difference really is crazy.

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pornborn@reddit

I know what you mean. Many years ago, pilots training to fly (one of) the Air Force One 747 were using the airport in the city where I lived. And it was the first time I saw a 747 flying that low over a highway. It was so massive and looked like it was moving so slow that it looked like it should have just dropped from the sky. I was enthralled by its presence.

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trawkins@reddit

I fly 767s for a living. It’s about 2.5 times the size of a 737 and has a max takeoff weight of 412,000 pounds. Our business neighbors fly 747s. While the 76 is big enough that taxiing past a 74 doesn’t make anything seem out of whack, walking under them will boggle your mind. Some of the cargo conversions have a takeoff weight just over a million fucking pounds. That’s a gas station and a small office building with all the people in it being launched into the sky and it’s just….normal. They also fly higher and faster than we do (up to 45,000 feet!). Truly unbelievable engineering.

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GaryJoBo@reddit

Totally get that. The first time I boarded a 777 via air stairs, rather than the jet bridge, I was utterly taken aback by the size.

I mean, I KNEW it was big, but standing next to one really drove home just HOW big.

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joolkiha@reddit

They're massive, aren't they? Always blows my mind!

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flyinboxes@reddit

Yeah I used to fly the 747 and am now on the 777. Even after that huge airplane, the GE90s still impress the he’ll out of me. Just massive

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Nervous_Mention8289@reddit

For context if retrofitted for land, it’ll provide power for up to 50 000 households. Truly a marvel in engineering.

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floodlenoodle@reddit (OP)

I had a 737 class in college and my instructor said that modern jet engines are the closest thing we have to perpetual motion.

Oversimplifying it goes like this: Fan/initial compressor (N1) sucks in air, the core compressor (N2) compresses the air even more, fuel added and ignited in combustion section, combustion powers through N2 turbine powering N2 rotation, also goes through N1 turbine which turns the front fan (we are now full circle) which is continuously producing most of the thrust as well as continuing to suck air into the core

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shit_ass_mcfucknuts@reddit

This gets me wondering if the engines rotate in different directions to balance out, does the one in the left wing go clockwise and the one in the right wing goes counter clockwise?

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floodlenoodle@reddit (OP)

The core of the engine isn't connected to the fan as well as the core and fan being able to spin freely. You can turn the fan of a jet engine with your hand (at least on a KC-135). On windy days the wind can spin the fan too. As a result they produce much less torque than a turboprop or reciprocating engine

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Broke_Duck@reddit

No. They’re swappable.

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Toxic-Park@reddit

To me, it’s never more obvious than when I see the re-engines KC-135 tankers that were based off the original 707!

Those old engines looked like pencils compared to the new ones.

I’m actually impressed they were able to fit the new engines with the original landing gear clearance.

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Fentron3000@reddit

They are large!

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Onair380@reddit

this is like a ant in compare to GE90

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Huge_Animal5996@reddit

PW4000 on a 767?

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Fentron3000@reddit

PW4056 on a 747-400. F-HLOV to be exact.

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AbeFromanEast@reddit

True story: the GE9X engine on the 777X has a larger diameter than a 737's tube fuselage (4.0m vs 3.76m).

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Onair380@reddit

Fun fact : this is the most spreaded fun fact amoung 777 posts

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Its_my_throwaway_@reddit

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BryTheGuy06@reddit

I’m 6’4 and it is insane

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Onair380@reddit

what is 6'4 ? Is this some fantasy unit ?

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PaddyMayonaise@reddit

I used to work on the railroad and this image triggered me the way that standing between rails or cars does. This cannot be allowed 😂😂

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BryTheGuy06@reddit

It was a little nerve wracking when the wind would spin the blades 😂

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Shot-Measurement-522@reddit

For sure you don't want to be there when the engine starts.

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BryTheGuy06@reddit

This 787 was parked overnight for maintenance so we were safe about it. I was on a tech ops project so got a cool tour of the maintenance hangar

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DoItForLA@reddit

I used to be a truck driver and mostly pulled double trailers. Similar feeling for me when my trainer would stand between the trailers or go under them to check the connections.

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DutchBlob@reddit

Omg are you okay? You look very pale!

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MonsieurLartiste@reddit

That whole topic sucks you right in.

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JPAV8R@reddit

Triple 7 engines are comical. I’ve been on so many and around so many and I still laugh when I see them.

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TightOrganization522@reddit

GE90s amaze the hell outta me

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Far_Breakfast_5808@reddit

The fact that they are wider than a 737 is crazy.

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RatInaMaze@reddit

What?!

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ElChambon@reddit

DutchBlob@reddit

Go away Mark Zuckerberg

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PinkFloyden@reddit

Pushing those two engines to TO/GA on takeoff must feel like accelerating in a sports car, but ten folds

777 pilots must love it

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michuneo@reddit

High power ground runs on empty aircraft with minuscule amount of fuel are always fun. ;)

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Several_Leader_7140@reddit

I’ve done a low fuel high thrust takeoff once in an a330 on a ferry and even that was fun as hell

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nothingbutfinedining@reddit

High power runs are always fun, but widebodies don’t generally allow it with minuscule fuel.

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michuneo@reddit

By minuscule I meant ~10% fuel rather than usual top up to 80% or 100% ;))

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acemomentla@reddit

I want one in my room

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Tedfromwalmart@reddit

As a room*

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85Txaggie@reddit

Good, cause it is a RR Trent 800.

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Bolle_pokkentrol@reddit

More impressive is it when you have the actually motor and they tell you how much power it can produce. 😉

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Efficient_Sky5173@reddit

It’s for processing bigger birds.

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Own-Inflation8771@reddit

Its just the fan that is massive. The actual engine is smaller. Think of an ATR 72 engine with a nacelle around the propeller. That would be slightly larger than a GE9x. Not saying anything about the power output between the 2 engines.

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discombobulated38x@reddit

The fan very much is part of the engine, as is the fan case, accessory gearbox etc.

It's not like a propeller that's produced by a third party, varies between aircraft types for a given engine and is bolted onto the aircraft as a separate item.

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speed150mph@reddit

Every time I fly in a 737, I look around knowing that a GE90 is roughly the same size as the fuselage

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wstsidhome@reddit

The exhaust tip must be pointy!

Round is better, sir!

It must be pointy!

Good lawd that thing is gigantopithacus

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JoMercurio@reddit

I severely underestimated the size of these things while I was making a legally-distinct YB-60 but with a turbine of this type (they were really, really large even for a intercontinental strategic bomber)

(iirc the turbine is dimensionally similar to the RB211-22 aka the L-1011 engine)

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