Value Report | July 2005 11

Engine report

T HE CFM56-5C, the most powerfulengine in the CFM56 family, isthe sole propulsion system for thelong-range Airbus A340-300 aircraft inproduction. The introduction of the A340-500 / -600 has seen the Trent engine certi-fied on the A340 airframe, too. TheCFM56 was developed from the collabora-tion of General Electric and Snecma inthe late 1960s and early 1970s. Thebasis for the CFM56 was the F101 enginewhich powers the Rockwell B1-B. Contin-uing the CFM56 engines excellent world-wide reputation, the CFM56-5C featuresinnovative technologies, low fuel con-sumption, and the ability to meet all exist-ing environmental requirements withsignificant margins.

In its class, the A340 fitted with CFM56-5C offers what Snecma claim to be thelowest noise signature in commercial ser-vice. The development of the CFM56-5Cwas supported at its entry into service in1993, by the CFM56 familys more than40 million engine flight hours of experi-ence. The CFM56-5C has an excellent reli-ability rate which has become synonymouswith the CFM56 family.

The CFM56-5C has the lowest specificfuel consumption of the engines withinCFM56 family largely due to its large fanand high bypass ratio. It is also recognisedas the quietest engine in its thrust classalthough competitors are few and farbetween. The engine has a high thrust-to-weight ratio, which provides excellent take-off performance for high altitudes and hotairfields. The engine has successfullydemonstrated its ability to operate at

36,000lbs thrust during ground testing. Cur-rently the -5C4 is the highest certified thrustcapability at 34,000lbs thrust. The enginebenefits from second-generation FADEC.

This CFM56 is the only model with themixed flow bypass. It was developed byCFMI to provide significant noise attenua-tion, reduced fuel burn, and increasedclimb thrust.

Because of the aircraft installation, thisCFM56 model has a very high hours tocycles ratio and the average time betweena performance restoration shop visit is15,000 hours.

The engine-caused shop visit rate hasbeen as low as 0.046 and was equivalentto one visit per 21,739 engine flight

hours. Dispatch reliability rate was99.61%, which is one of the highest ratesfor aircraft of this size.

The CFM56-5C had just entered itsmaturity product phase. The market isstable and only a few aircraft are on back-log. This will guarantee the market toremain unchanged for several years, guar-anteeing a good value retention toinvestors.

With the preceding factors taken intoaccount, IASG assesses the currentmarket value of the engine and QEC to be$7,500,000. n

Article contributed by Paolo Lironi ofIASG Powerplant Support Services

The CFM56-5CInitial development contract Fourth-quarter 1987First engine to test December 1989First flight on Boeing 707 FTB August 1990CFM56-5C certification at 31,200lbs and 32,500lbs T/O thrust December 1991Airbus A340/CFM56-5C entry into service February 1993Airbus A340/CFM56-5C circles the world with only one stop June 1993CFM56-5C4 certification at 34,000lbs October 1994CFM56-5C4 entry into service (A340 at 257 tonnes) March 1995CFM56-5C4 entry into service (A340 at 271 tonnes) April 1996

Development history

Model (LPC, HPC, HPT, LPT) Thrust (lbs) Configuration CFM56-5C2 31,200 1F + 4L, 9H, 1H, 5LCFM56-5C3 32,500 1F + 4L, 9H, 1H, 5LCFM56-5C4 34,000 1F + 4L, 9H, 1H, 5LThe -5C benefited of the core changes made on -5B engine, the -5C4/P version, too

The CFM56-5C models

Takeoff conditions (sea level)Max. takeoff (lbs) 34,000Airflow (lbs/sec) 1,065Bypass ratio 6.4

In-flight performance (35,000 ft-Mach=0.80-ISA)Max. climb thrust (lbs) 7,580Overall pressure ratio at max. climb 38.3Max. cruise thrust (lbs) 7,100

Engine characteristicsLength (in) 103Fan diameter (in) 72.3Basic dry weight (lbs) 8,796

CFM56-5C4 characterisitcs

Entry into service 1993Departure reliability % successful per 1,000 departures 99.61Shop visit rate per 1,000 engine flight hours 0.060In-flight shutdowns rate per 1,000 engine flight hours 0.008Average flight duration (hours) 6.1Utilisation (hours per day) 12.8Utilisation (cycles per day) 2.1Number aircraft in-service 235Engines in-service 1,082Customers 38Total engine flight hours (million) 29.2Total engine flight cycles (million) 4.5

Reliability and other statistics