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Rolls-Royce has retired its Boeing 747-200B testbed aircraft, ending more than two decades of use for engine development and testing. The aircraft, registered as N787RR, completed its final flight earlier this month with a 4.5-hour circular journey from Tucson, Arizona, according to tracking data provided by Flightradar24. Reports of the retirement were first noted by Aerospace Global News and Vintage Aviation News.
The plane had served Rolls-Royce since June 2005 and was used to test new turbofan engines in real flight conditions. Deborah Robinson, Director of Test & Experimental Engineering at Rolls-Royce, commented on the importance of in-flight testing: "Computers and rig tests can achieve a lot. However, in the air, we can take it a step further and perform a wide range of tests to further confirm the results of our extensive ground and rig test programmes. We can take the opportunity to test the corners of the flight envelope and feed back into our extensive models."
Before joining Rolls-Royce’s fleet as a Flying Test Bed (FTB), N787RR had flown commercially for around 25 years. It entered service with Cathay Pacific in April 1980 under registration VR-HIA before being re-registered as B-HIA in 1997. After leaving Cathay Pacific in December 1999, it operated with Air Atlanta Icelandic and was leased to other airlines such as Saudi Arabian Airlines and AirAsia.
