WINNIPEG — At first glance, you might think you’re at NASA.
But the GE Aviation Engine Testing, Research and Development Centre is in Winnipeg.
“It’s a very exciting place to be,” said Brent Ostermann, the program director at the facility. “You’ve got the coolness factor.”
Cool in more ways than one.
General Electric freezes its airplane engines here to make sure they’ll work in the coldest temperatures.
The facility is in Winnipeg because of the frigid winters.
“We do testing here from November through April at this facility,” said Ostermann. “As a matter of fact, last winter we did icing tests right through to April 11.”
GE contracted Standard Aero to run the site for 10 years.
The $50-million site just north of the airport terminal has only been open a little over a year.
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Initially it was just for cold-weather tests, but this fall, ice won’t be the only thing thrown at an engine here.
“This is the bird ingestion setup, so this is the bird cannon,” said Ostermann on a recent tour of the facility with Global News.
“The birds get loaded into a cannister and there are a series of pressurized tanks. That pressure is released when that wind tunnel is running and then the birds are targeted towards a specific part of the engine,” said Ostermann. “The idea is the engine keeps running when it gets struck by birds.”
GE uses bird carcasses from the dump for testing and does similar rigorous tests using ball bearings, hail, sand and even volcanic ash to make sure your flight is safe.
In 2009, an airbus hit a flock of Canada geese over New York City.
The engines lost power and the plane glided safely o to the Hudson River.
During a bird strike, an engine has to maintain 70 per cent of its power to meet regulations.
“It’s always been mandated by the FAA for all new engines,” said Ostermann. “They have to see how the engines will react to a bird strike.”
When an engine is being tested in Winnipeg, there are around 10 engineers on site. There are also cameras that feed a live look to a team in Cincinnati.
“In the future if the GE has a need to do military engines, they will do military engines here,” said Ostermann,
“The opportunity to even be around that engine is really exciting for people who are into aviation,” said Doug Whynot, an engineer at the facility.
That feeling will be around for a while. The facility is booked solid with new engines for the next several years.
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