Taking Flight

"People have hobbies," Solon said. "They love sports. They love cars. Well, I love GE J79s. When I go to sleep at night, that’s what I dream about… I’ve got to keep it running, and I’ve got to keep it running correctly. That’s my hobby. That’s what I love to do."

Chapter 13: The Next Generation by GE Aviation

Chapter 12: General Aviation by GE Aviation

Chapter 11: Business Jets And Regional Jets by GE Aviation

Chapter 10: Fighter Engines by GE Aviation

Chapter 9: How LEAP Came To Be by GE Aviation

Chapter 8: Power Of The GE90 And GEnx by GE Aviation

How GE's partnership with a French aerospace powerhouse formed its CFM International joint venture and one of the most successful commercial engines in history.

How the "little tough guy" and GE Aviation's first high-bypass engine lifted the aviation industry.

How the J47 and J79 jet engines went on to become some of the most produce and utilized engines in the world.

How GE Aviation's Lynn, Massachusetts, operation came to be the hub of helicopter engine manufacturing for GE.

How GE Aviation earned its first military contract and went on to produce America's first jet engine.

How Cincinnati, Ohio, came to support World War II and become GE Aviation's global headquarters.

Former GE Aviation employee and unofficial company historian Rick Kennedy kicks off a series examining GE Aviation's role in the past century of aviation.

It’s rush hour, and you are about to embark on your daily commute to work. The drive normally takes you about 20 minutes, but it’s raining, so you plug your destination into your GPS app to make sure you’re on the fastest route. It turns out that there’s been an accident on your typical path and traffic is heavy as a result, so the app guides you toward an alternate route, saving you an additional 10 minutes of travel time and enabling you to get to work on time. Data and connectivity have the power to transform the way we operate, making not just people, but businesses and industries smarter. At GE Aviation, we are connecting streams of machine data and analytics to create valuable insights that enable more efficient asset management and operations for GE and for its customers. Success is driven by a fundamental shift in the way teams are thinking and working, blurring the lines of vertical silos to create cross-functional teams focused on delivering shared, business-level outcomes. Listen as some of GE Aviation’s leaders discuss how this transformation is taking shape.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a fighter pilot or weapon systems officer (WSO)? Malissa Gallini, part of our junior officer leadership program, interviewed US Navy pilot Lt. Jenny Moore and WSO Lt. Claire Gunnison during their visit to GE Aviation in Evendale. Lt. Moore and Lt. Gunnison discussed how they got their call signs (Juno and Hooks!), how they became interested in flying, and what it's like to juggle family and work while serving our country.

Tom Champion, GE’s Director of Advanced Turboshaft Demonstrator Programs, and Jon Perkins, Program Manager of the Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) program review the world’s most powerful, technologically advanced turboshaft engine being developed with the US Army. First, Tom discusses his experience as an Army aviator (0:45-3:00) and then Jon details his recently concluded time in the Navy (3:00-5:40). They then share: why the FATE program was launched by the Army in 2011 (5:40-8:45); the extraordinary performance objectives of FATE versus GE’s newest commercial engines (8:50-10:50); FATE design and testing progress to date (11:00-12:20); how FATE expands the use of next-gen commercial technologies like CMCs and digital tools (12:30-16:00); the future of FATE and other advanced turboshaft programs (16:00-19:20).

Ron Hutter, GE’s VP of rotorcraft sales, details the unique but costly engine configuration of the United Kingdom's Apache fleet for the past 20 years (1:08-2:10), details the benefits of the UK switching to T700 engines for its future Apaches fleet (2:25-4:05), the timeline to get the new aircraft into the UK’s fleet (4:20-5:00), how the engines may be supported in the UK once in service, (5:10-6:10) and how GE’s first sale of an off-the-shelf military engine to the UK will grow business relations between GE and the UK MOD (6:20-8:25).

Dan McCormick and Mike Eisenmenger from GE’s adaptive cycle program discuss: limitations of fixed cycle engines compared to GE’s revolutionary three-stream, adaptive cycle engine (1:15-2:45); unprecedented performance achieved by GE and Air Force engineers on the technology’s first test (3:00-4:40); GE’s adaptive engine sized for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (5:00-7:00); using technologies developed for GE commercial engines to reduce adaptive risk and increase capability (7:00-10:45); how the adaptive engine could be deployed in the future, including options for F-35 flight demos (11:00-13:05). To watch a documentary on the technology, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqkgtEszJ6w

Matt Benvie sits down with VJ Singh, GE Aviation’s Executive Director of Fleet Support, a team that uses real-time data and advanced analytics to help airline customers maximize jet engine performance. They discuss: VJ’s 15-year career in the field supporting airline customers’ engines (1:05-2:05); the shortfalls of GE’s legacy engine monitoring system used for the past 30 years (2:05-3:50); the benefits of GE’s new monitoring system(Predix), how it detects customer problems the old system couldn’t (3:50-6:00); specific examples where Predix fixed problems once thought unsolvable (6:00-8:00); how a customer is alerted to a potential problem and how it’s solved before it occurs (8:00-10:45); how Predix improved prediction accuracy from 70% to 86%, saving customers from spending unnecessary time on maintenance (10:45-12:05); how Predix will evolve over the coming years (i.e. more lead time for service activity) to better serve airline customers predictive (12:05-14:05).