Born to run: Building the GEnx jet engine

The breakthrough jet engine developed for Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 long-range jets is already one of GE’s fastest sellers. But its creation sure didn’t happen overnight. The team at GE Aviation is having such a blast with the two models currently being put through their test paces that their enthusiasm spilled over into seven short films that take you inside the creation of the GEnx. No professional actors or voiceovers are used — with everyone you see and hear in the films wearing a GE badge for a living. The first one below traces the GEnx’s roots to the carbon fiber composites born during GE’s jet engine experiments in the 1980s.

The next video shows how GE’s newest engine is in many ways a chip off the old block — as its big brother is the biggest jet engine of them all, the massive GE90.

* Read the media releases about the engines’ milestones
* Watch videos about the engines in The GEnx Theater
* Learn more bout the GEnx and ecomagination
* Learn more about GE Aviation
* Explore the GEnx timelines of development
* Download Part 1 and Part 2 of a podcast series on the GEnx and Leap-X engines

We’ll be back after the holiday weekend in the U.S. with more videos in the series — from extreme weather tests on the engines to the converted 747 that serves as a flying “testbed.” Until then, thanks for flying GEnx — “Buh-bye!”