Take a peek at 787 power

MUKILTEO – Eager to get a glimpse of the Boeing Co.’s new 787 Dreamliner?

The Future of Flight Aviation Center is bringing the 787 to you piece by piece. A model and a 3-D exhibit of the Dreamliner’s jet engine just opened at the Mukilteo museum, courtesy of Rolls-Royce.

“We wanted to create an attraction that visitors can engage and interact with to encourage them to learn more about jet engine technology,” says Phil Hopton, vice president of Seattle Operations for Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce’s Trent 1000 is one of two engine options for Dreamliner customers. Based on the company’s latest engine, the 3-D aspect of the exhibit allows visitors to interactively explore the engine. Museum-goers can manipulate the virtual engine to examine different parts and learn how each works.

The Rolls-Royce engine exhibit is the latest in a string of 787-related displays at Future of Flight. Visitors also can get a glimpse of a complete, one-piece test barrel section of the 787’s fuselage as well as a mock-up of the aircraft’s interior.

Rolls-Royce has also donated a scale model of the Trent 1000 so visitors can get a true idea of what the engine looks like.

“We are proud to have Rolls-Royce join us as a partner at the Future of Flight,” said Barry Smith, Future of Flight’s executive director. “I don’t know which is more fun, activating the elegantly detailed counter-rotating shafts of the quarter-scale model or touching the screen to activate 3-D cutaways of the operating Trent 1000.”

At take-off, the two Trent 1000s powering a 787 will deliver about 150,000 pounds of thrust – the equivalent to the power of about 1,500 family cars.

The Rolls-Royce product serves as the launch engine on all versions of the 787.

It will power the aircraft’s first flight in summer 2008 and will enter into service with the aircraft’s first customer, Japan’s All Nippon Airways, in 2008.

Flight center

The Future of Flight Aviation Center &Boeing Tour: