Farewell to One of Our Last GE CF6-50 Engines

The CF6-50 is heading for retirement. KLM still has a few of these engines, but their market value is very limited. After 43 years of service, we handed one of our last CF6-50 engines over to science.

The engine was donated to the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), where it was offloaded and stored in the technical workshop used by the students of the Aerospace Engineering faculty.

engine

This transfer didn’t just happen overnight. The entire process took several years to complete and involved numerous people and departments, from financial controlling to quality assurance and legal support.

Most engines are sold to other operators or to aircraft parts brokers. Their value varies from around EUR 100.000 euros to several million euros. The same applies if the engine is broken down into individual parts, with yield varying depending on age, technical status and market requirements.

Engine history

In December 1972, KLM took delivery of its first DC10-30 aircraft, the long-range version of the DC10, developed by McDonnell Douglas in the USA.

DC10

The wide-body era had just begun the previous year, with the introduction of the Boeing 747. This new generation jumbo jets required larger aircraft engines.

The DC10-30 was powered by three large turbofan engines, the CF6-50C, designed by General-Electric.
The airline industry was expanding fast and many more versions of the successful CF6 engine were developed for various aircraft. Namely:

  • The CF6-50C for the A300;
  • The CF6-50E for the B747;
  • The CF6-80A for the A310 and B767;
  • The CF6-80C2 for various B747, B767 and MD11 models;
  • The CF6-80E1 for the Airbus A330;

The GE CF6 is one of the most successful engines in recent aviation history, with more than 6,000 rolling off the production line. 
Because they were highly reliability and fuel efficient, they are sold like hotcakes. KLM Engineering & Maintenance maintains most models of the CF6 engine, conducting more than 9,000 overhauls over the years.

The engine donated to Delft is a CF6-50C model used to power Airbus A300s operated by various airlines. It racked up 52.697 flight hours, completing 26.231 flights, and had been in KLM’s possession since 2004.

engine

To give you some idea: 52.697 flight hours is equal to approximately 42 million kilometres. That means to the moon and back 55 times, or around the earth over 1,000 times!

Our ties with the academic world

KLM has long-standing ties with the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), which has an outstanding Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.
 Many graduates of the TU Delft have gone on to successful careers at KLM or participated in cooperative programmes between KLM Engineering & Maintenance and TU Delft.

One of these cooperative programmes led to an analytical tool that assesses the performance of gas turbines. This tool was developed by KLM Engine Services, TU Delft and the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory. Another example of cooperation is the AHEAD study.

engine

Educational institutions like TU Delft are always seeking study and tuition materials, because students need to supplement their textbook knowledge with hands-on experience involving the real “hardware”.

The engine will not only be used for display, but also as a practical tool to teach students the fundamental design principles of gas turbines, as well as their aerodynamics and systems.

Engine at TU Delft

This is not the first aviation hardware that KLM has donated for educational purposes. A KLM Boeing 747 classic is now on display in a museum, and two Boeing 737 CFM56 engines were donated to a regional college (ROC) for aviation students.

Hangar at TU Delft

Engineering masterpiece

We are confident that future generations of aeronautical engineers will benefit from the knowledge they gain from this masterpiece of engineering design, which played such an important role in aviation history. Without these huge engines, wide-body aircraft wouldn’t have been able to take off!

Rob Duivis is programme manager at KLM Engine Services and has worked with CF6 engines for over 40 years.

Posted by:   Rob Duivis  | 
Join the conversation Show comments

MOHSEN KREFA

kEEP UP THE GOOD WORK ALWAYS.

Jan Hemink

Nice blog about another kind of farewell Rob.
I have one question: do you happen to know the registration and type of the last aircraft this engine was assembled to? Was it a Dutch one, I guess not. Tsk in advance.

Rob Duivis

Dear Jan,
The last operator was not a Dutch one, but one of our customers, the aircraft was an Airbus A300.
Unfortunately registrations and serial numbers is considered proprietary information which we are not allowed to share in the public domain.

Regards,

Rob.

Tim Howard

DC-10-30 was one cool airplane. I know we move on!

Kelvin Ekberg

Well written, interesting article. That engine may have been utilized on an aircraft my family flew on to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks Kelvin

Nick Kerssens

Mighty interesting, that kind of news. Surely, like to be informed. Thanksss..

Edwin Kanters

Hi Rob,
Great action! I studied Aerospace engineering and the “Vliegtuighal” is a very valuable enrichment of the textbooks. Reading that the aluminium skin of the aircraft is less than 2mm thick does not leave a great impression, seeing how ridiculusly thin this is in a cut sectio’s of a plane does! This new engine will bring the complexity and beauty of the design to life for many generations of students to come!

Andrew Work

Thank you for a fascinating article. I had no idea that the old DC10 engines were still in regular use.
I seem to remember the engines of the 1970’s aircraft being much noisier than those in use today. They used to really make a huge noise on take off.. Where the engines modified to low-noise at some stage, or was this one of the first low-noise engines?
Then again, it could just be my hearing which isn’t as sensitive as it was in my childhood!

Rob Duivis

Dear Andrew,
With this engine there were no modifications afterwards to reduce noise, from the design on, al lot of effort was already taken top reduce noise levels; acoustical panels in the fan flow path for example, and also the bypass engine is much quitter then the predesigns straight jet engines.
Over the years with later models of the CF6 series, competitor engines and new designs, more improvements to noise reduction were introduced and this continues.

Rob.

Guido w. kanis

For me the last engine of the DC-7 was the ultimate of piston-engine technologie, but the CF-6 is the beginning of the real power engine in aviation. A beauty!

Md Tanveer Rahman

Dear Rob Duivis very nice article indeed. Just wondering is it possible to load this engine in B747F aircraft? As per picture, it was transferred through Truck. many thanks in advance.

MS GHAMDI

Where it is possible to have the engine MM for this engine type. I need help. I contacted GE, and they do not have it anymore, I am an aircraft instructor at an aviation school, and we have 2 CF6-50 engine for training purposes.

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