Boeing

Demonstrating even lower-noise features on an already quiet 777-300ER is the goal of a three-week flight test program led by Boeing [NYSE: BA] and called the Quiet Technology Demonstrator "2" (QTD2).

Flight testing is under way at the company's Glasgow, Montana, test facility where several advanced noise-reduction concepts will be tested. These include chevrons on the engine exhaust ducts and new acoustic treatment for the engine inlet. Landing gear noise reduction features also will be tested to lower aircraft noise during landing.

The program is an equal cost-sharing project between The Boeing Company, the General Electric Company, Goodrich Corporation's Aerostructures division, and NASA. All Nippon Airways of Japan is providing one of its soon-to-be-delivered 777-300ER airplanes for the flight test activities.

Each company is validating key technologies for incorporation into its own current and future products. NASA is joining the industry effort to acquire data to test some of its advances in propulsion aeroacoustics and computational fluid dynamics.

QTD2 follows on the heels of an earlier program -- called the Quiet Technology Demonstrator -- with members of the international aerospace industry. That program verified significant noise reduction solutions, some of which are now standard on the 777.

"All Boeing hardware is built to flight-test standards," said Walt Gillette, vice president, 787 airplane development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "This means that once we have demonstrated the success of these technologies, we'll be in a position to rapidly implement them on specific products, such as the 787 and other Boeing airplanes.

"We are always looking to the future well beyond our next new airplane. Improving the performance of our airplanes -- making them quieter for communities, ground crews and those on board the airplane -- is an ongoing effort."