The GE Brief: March 2, 2021
POWERING ATLAS’ LIFT
The global freight carrier Atlas Air Worldwide announced last week a quartet of new Boeing 747-8 freighters it ordered from Boeing in January will be powered by GEnx-2B jet engines, a close relative of the engines that power another Boeing jet, the 787 Dreamliner. Atlas said the new planes will have 20% higher payload capacity and 16% lower fuel consumption than the previous version, the 747-400. The deal, which includes engines and overhaul services, is valued at $800 million at list price over the life of the 20-year maintenance contract.
The freight of the world: Atlas Air is the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747 freighter aircraft, with 53 of them in its fleet. The Boeing 747-8 is the latest and the most advanced version of the Boeing 747, also known as the Jumbo Jet, which helped redefine air travel over the last half-century. “The 747-8F powered with GEnx engines gives us the best and most versatile widebody freighter in the market,” said John W. Dietrich, Atlas Air Worldwide president and chief executive officer. The engine uses advanced technologies and materials — including a carbon fiber composite front fan case and fan blades — that helped it achieve the highest reliability and utilization, lowest fuel burn and longest range capable of any engine in its thrust class, according to GE.
Click here to read more about Atlas Air’s new engines.
STEM ROLE MODELS
Growing up in the flight path of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., Shawn Newman became fascinated by the planes that flew over his house. In middle school, on days when the sun lingered into the evening, he was sometimes able to pursue them to their destination. “The best days were when I had time to ride my bike an hour to the airport to get a closer look at the planes taking off and landing,” Newman says. That fascination led him to study engineering at the University of Cincinnati before landing 28 years ago at GE Aviation, which has its headquarters in the Ohio metropolis, where he now works as a senior systems engineer.
Pay it forward: For the better part of two decades, Newman and his colleague Corwin Angel — who joined him later — have been paying their passion for science forward by mentoring and tutoring students in Lincoln Heights, the most concentrated African American community in Ohio, according to local leaders. Angel’s love of engineering began with a plastic brick play set and blossomed into a life goal when he discovered aerospace engineering at a middle school career fair. Subscribing to the adage, “You can’t be what you can’t see,” Newman and Angel are trying to spark the same interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the children they teach at Lincoln Heights Elementary. “I had role models when I grew up that looked like me, which I feel helped get me through college and through the early days in my career, and I feel that it is important to do the same,” Newman says. “Whether it’s focusing on math, science or reading, these subjects are essential to problem-solving and anything children decide to do in life.”
Read more about Newman and Angel’s community outreach here.
COOLEST THINGS ON EARTH ?
1. USB On Steroids
Researchers at MIT have linked high-frequency silicon chips with an ultra-thin polymer cable to build a data transfer system 10 times faster than a USB.
2. Stem Cell Results
Yale scientists are seeing improved motor functions in patients with spinal cord injuries after treating them with stem cells derived from the patients’ bone marrow.
3. Robot Hercules
Researchers have built a robotic muscle that uses an electric charge and a bellow design to lift as much as 70 times its own weight.
Learn more here about this week's Coolest Things On Earth.
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“I want them to know that someone, besides their parents and teachers, cares about their success.”
— Corwin Angel, lead manufacturing engineer at GE Aviation, Cincinnati, Ohio
Quote: GE Reports. Images: Atlas Air, GE Aviation.