OREANDA-NEWS. December 03, 2015. In December 1972, KLM took receipt of its first CF6-50 engines from General Electric (GE). The engine type donated to the Delft University of Technology was used extensively for wide-body passenger aircraft including the Airbus 300, McDonnell Douglas DC10 and Boeing 747. The engine in question successfully powered more than 26,000 flights, operating a total of no less than 57,000 flight hours. The CF6-50 type is one of the most successful aircraft engines in aviation history.

Because, nowadays, this engine type isn’t used very often, KLM decided to donate a CF6-50 engine to the university where students can use it for training purposes. “We firmly believe that tomorrow’s aircraft engineers can learn a lot from this masterpiece,” said Rob Duivis, programme manager at KLM Engine Services. KLM now uses more economical engines such as the GEnx-1B type for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The engine was symbolically handed over today by KLM Engineering & Maintenance to Hester Bijl, Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. After the engine was handed over, Mr Paul Ch?n, Vice President Engine Services KLM, gave a lecture at the university.