Cooling Their Jets: GE Opens High-Tech Engine Test Site on Canada’s Icy Plains

February 1, 2012

Ice may be fun to skate on, but for jet engines it can pose a serious threat. Freezing mist may creep up inside the engine, coat key parts in ice and impact engine performance. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that manufacturers run engines through a series of rigorous icing tests and extreme scenarios. The jets must keep the power they need in tough wintry conditions.

The Magnificent Seven: Seven high-powered fans blast freezing wind at 65 miles per hour.

This week, GE opened a $50 million jet engine testing facility on the icy plains surrounding the James A. Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg, Canada. At the heart of the testing site is a 21-foot wind tunnel equipped with seven high-powered fans. The tunnel, which looks like the bottom of a spaceship knocked on its side, can generate winds blowing at speeds up to 65 miles per hour. An array of 125 nozzles sprays micron-sized droplets into the freezing gale and the resulting ice cloud then pummels the hapless engine. The various testing regimens are precisely prescribed in FAA manuals, from the size of the droplets, to wind speed, temperature and length of exposure. An engine must power through the mayhem to earn an FAA certification. GE also feeds gathered data back to aviation engineers to fine tune and improve on their designs. The site, which will be operated by the Canadian aircraft service company StandardAero, will test the GEnx, LEAP, Passport 20 and other engines.

Kevin Kanter, engineering executive at GE Aviation, said that Winnipeg was an ideal location because every year it has on average 50 days when temperatures fall bellow zero. It has freezing weather from November to mid-April. GE’s other testing facility in Peebles, Ohio, has not had any sub-zero days this winter for example and is generally getting warmer. “At Peebles, you can’t get enough days to test icing,” Kanter said.

Hail and High Water: The 122,500 square foot testing facility is a partnership between GE and StandardAero. Testing regimens will include ice, hail, lots of water, and more.

What happens when Winnipeg warms up? There are other ways to test an engine. They involve hailstones, water ingestion, birds, and ice slab, which the engines must “digest” and perform at set levels to pass the FAA test. The goal is to make sure that GE engines are in top shape to handle any situation they might fly into. The FAA “tells you exactly what to do,” Kanter said. “It gives you a sense of clarity that you need to stick to.”


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  • Diahann Garner

    What is the protocol for using birds to test the engines? (Considering they will be, as you describe, “digested” by the engine.) I would like to assume humane practices are in place.

  • AJS

    Gee….couldn’t this have been opened in alaska? WE NEED JOBS IN THE US, Mr. Immelt! Isn’t that why Mr. Obama hired you?

  • D Freeze

    What was the reasoning why GE didn’t put the new facility inside the United States. We have other states besides Ohio for example N Dakota in which the temperature difference is very slight between Winipeg and the Dakotas plus I’m sure there aremany old Air Force bases in which to procure property from.

  • S Maney

    I’m interested in understanding the reasoning behind siting the facility in Canada and not on the sovern soil of the good old USA.

    I would appreciate some feedback.

  • bill squire

    Looks like the Peebles crew will be getting another screwing by loosing work to a second rate workforce in Canada. I thought Immelt was a jobs CZAR supposed to create jobs, just happens to be creating them anywhere but the USA. You would think they would ship more work to the Peebles crew since they are already paid 50% less than other locations and there insurance is nothing more than disaster care and the new hires have no pensions anymore, its a wonder they don’t have a Union there yet, probably just a matter of time till they do.

  • andrew goodman

    Before you go calling us Canadians a second rate workforce…check your spelling! Standard Aero is a world class company…good on them.

  • TKing

    Why is the workforce in Canada second rate?

  • J. Farnarkler

    Got to ask, is the overall goal here to find the best location suitable for icing tests, or is it just a big political move? There are numerous locations within the U.S. where this facility could have been built with more desirable temperatures than what Winnipeg has to offer. Subzero doesn’t necessarily create a suitable icing environment. -4 deg. is as coldest test requirement for most icing tests, with most requirements being in the 0 to 25 degs F range. Winnipeg climate for a normal January averages range from −7 °F to 7 °F…and a normal year will see temperatures below −4 °F 58 times a year and temperatures below −22 °F 14 times each year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg).
    It appears this is GE’s way of finding an excuse to move jobs outside of the country in order to gain tax breaks. It’s about the money that GE will see in tax write-offs and not thinking about the loss of U.S. jobs. There is no reason to move some of these tests to a cold weather environment (ex: bird strike, water ingestion, and possible blade out testing) and especially to another country. We are seeing our jobs being given away and not only are we losing jobs, but also being asked to provide all training and expertise that it takes to know how to do these jobs…and who are the ones gaining from all of it?
    (http://www.economicdevelopmentwinnipeg.com/uploads/document_file/aerospace_profile.pdf)

  • J. Farnarkler

    Apparently the cold winter is not longer in Winnipeg as stated in the report:
    “Winnipeg was an ideal location because every year it has on average 50 days when temperatures fall bellow zero. It has freezing weather from November to mid-April.”
    Weather has been too warm to run icing test on the NX787 and the HF120 (Honda) engines since the 2nd week of March of this year. Consideration to send the HF120 to another location is now being reviewed since Winnipeg does not have the weather temperature.
    “HF120 Icing-Concept-Testing May Utilize Alternate Site – Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Located 1500 miles north of Winnipeg, site is being considered due to viable cold temperatures through April. On-site investigation being conducted FW12. (Neubauer, Mark E, March 15, 2012)”