AND FINALLY: The jumbo testbed

For all those who wondered where old Boeing B747s go to die, BTN has at least part of the answer.

Qantas has retired another Jumbo from its fleet, but this one, instead of being sent to the scrapyard, has been acquired by Rolls-Royce for conversion into an engine testbed.

The aircraft, registered VH-OJU under Qantas’ ownership and powered by the Rolls-Royce RB-211 engine, has flown more than 70m km, equivalent to nearly 100 trips to the moon and back. Over the 20 years of Qantas service, it carried 2.5m passengers.

Apart from nostalgia, its value to Rolls-Royce is its capability to test the latest commercial and business turbofan engines and collect data at far greater speeds than existing platforms.

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