00:00You may take a look through the window when in the sky and see the engines right under the wing.
00:05The thought may go through your head something like,
00:08oh, how fascinating, that little thing is what keeps us in the air at 37,000 feet.
00:13And after that, you go back to your movie, book, or iPad.
00:17Sure, it's cool, but we kind of expect it to work.
00:20Take it for granted and don't pay much attention to it.
00:23And at the same time, there's so much work going on behind the scenes.
00:28Fasten your seatbelts.
00:30Today, we're going to find out what it takes for a plane engine to be ready to go.
00:34Before you set foot on a plane or before its engine even starts operating,
00:39it must undergo many tests to prove it's safe.
00:42In one test, for example, they shoot water in the engine at very high pressure.
00:48Most engines change through time.
00:50Engineers tend to always build something new, improve some features,
00:54and generally upgrade engines to make sure they work the best they can.
00:59This part is certainly fun, or at least it is until the engine meets Mother Nature.
01:04To make sure it will remain efficient,
01:06experts need to create an engine that will be able to withstand insane storms,
01:11rain, ice, snow, extreme heat, and so much more.
01:15An engine needs to be ready for all that even before it gets into production.
01:21Engines can take enormous amounts of water.
01:23There are special tests for water ingestion.
01:26During such a test, a team forces a stream of water into a running engine.
01:31What's amazing is that they shoot nearly 800 gallons of water per single minute directly into it.
01:39These tests confirm you'll be safe on the plane,
01:41even during a heavy rain or insanely powerful storm.
01:45If the engine is designed properly and meets safety standards,
01:48the water will come out without damaging it.
01:52Moving on, when the temperatures are really low and the weather gets colder,
01:56everything gets icy, and that can damage an engine and cause big problems for a plane.
02:02Such tests are especially tricky.
02:05Experts need to fire all kinds of ice particles into a running engine
02:09because you never know what you'll stumble upon up there in the air.
02:13By particles, I mean enormous balls of ice they throw into the engine.
02:18Not only do they want to see if the engine can take all that ice,
02:22but they also need to figure out how quickly it can recover after this.
02:27Hot and cold tests are fun too.
02:29To test if the engine is going to work in extreme heat,
02:33manufacturers will run it at maximum temperature and keep it like that for an extended period of time.
02:39During the flight, temperatures might get extremely high, but also very, very low.
02:46And when you want to test an engine in freezing temperatures,
02:49you need to go to a place where you'll have such conditions.
02:52For example, Canada's Arctic area of Nunavut.
02:56But dress well because temperatures over there are not pleasant.
03:00They go down to negative 18 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:03Then you leave the engine there for a week to test it both in the air and on the ground.
03:10You know how cool it is to watch through the window as the plane's going up?
03:14Well, the reason it can even lift off the ground is these rotating blades.
03:19They're the most important part as they move at speeds of nearly 3,000 revolutions per minute.
03:24The engine reaches full thrust as they rotate.
03:28These blades just have to be secure.
03:31But things happen, so one of the blades might still fall off.
03:35That's why tests are an essential part of the process.
03:38You can see if some of the blades are not attached firmly enough and fix it.
03:42So there's no chance they break off, especially while the plane is flying.
03:46If a blade falls off, it might hit other moving parts.
03:49It has happened in the past with some planes, so now tests are very strict.
03:55They allow specialists to understand if blades are set well before they get attached to the plane.
04:02During the test, engineers put a small explosive at the base of one of those blades.
04:07At the moment when someone starts the engine, bam!
04:11Oh wow, that's how you see if the blade will stay inside the chamber of the engine.
04:15If it breaks off, the team goes back to the drawing stage.
04:19They know they need to redesign it and repeat the test.
04:22Even if a blade is as small as your finger, it can cause lots of trouble to the engine and, by that, the entire airplane.
04:32Speaking of blades, have you noticed those little white spirals you can see here in the center of an engine?
04:38They look cool, but they're definitely more than that.
04:41They're primarily there for the safety of the crew on the ground.
04:45Crew members usually can't hear it when the engine is running because they're mostly wearing hearing protection.
04:50Thanks to these spirals, they can see when the engines are on, so they can stay at a safe distance.
04:56Another reason why they might be important, although this hasn't been proven yet,
05:00is that they scare away birds when they're in the air and prevent them from getting up too close to the plane's engines.
05:08So, you're up there in the air relaxing and reading your favorite book that keeps you calm.
05:12You're not a fan of flying, especially...
05:15Oh no, the captain's speaking, saying you might go through some turbulence because you just got caught in the middle of a storm.
05:22He says there's nothing to be afraid of.
05:24It's normal, even though the chances of lightning hitting your plane are very high at such altitudes.
05:31An average commercial airplane gets struck by lightning approximately once a year,
05:36and it can be very tricky to deal with this.
05:38In the past, some planes experienced that and even had to make an emergency landing.
05:43So, engineers needed to create a test to make sure a lightning strike wouldn't shut the engine down.
05:49They use lighter materials, like carbon fiber.
05:53These materials don't conduct electricity well, so they end up in both engines and the basic structure of the plane.
06:00Manufacturers also add a layer of foil or metal mesh, which makes the airplane even more protected from lightning strikes.
06:08So, when the captain asks you not to worry, it's not about giving false hopes or anything like that.
06:14With the existing system, you most likely won't even feel when lightning hits your plane.
06:19There are three stages of testing a finished airplane.
06:23During the first one, you check the system without the engine running.
06:27During the second one, the engine is running while mounted on a special stand.
06:32And the ultimate stage, and kind of best part, where you want to check if everything works right, is the in-flight test.
06:38You put the engine in a couple of different situations.
06:41Once the plane is in the air, the engine needs to show it can produce thrust.
06:46Remember those blades?
06:48It takes approximately two years to build an engine and set it for testing.
06:53Tests seem like something you can do within a short time.
06:56But in reality, this process can last for up to five years for a single model.
07:02When manufacturers launch a new design, they will use the first engine they built just for testing.
07:08That means that this particular model will never fly commercially.
07:14There are many, many more tests there, of course.
07:17Like wing flex testing, for example.
07:20Wings flex during turbulence.
07:22This is the reason you have a smoother run.
07:25They test wing flex to nearly 150% of the maximum flex a plane will experience during a regular flight.
07:34Then there's an acceleration test.
07:36Different parts of a plane go through really big stress and pressure throughout the flight.
07:42Just picture racing down the runway for takeoff and then having to suddenly stop the flight and the plane itself.
07:49Acceleration tests basically apply strong forces to the components, or even the whole frame of an aircraft,
07:55just to make sure it will withstand all that stress.
08:02That's it for today.
08:03So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:08Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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