Southwest Airlines Engine Washing

Southwest Airlines Co. has signed a multiyear agreement to use an environmentally friendly engine-washing system in an effort to save on fuel and cut carbon emissions.

The Dallas-based carrier is using the EcoPower system offered by East Hartford, Conn.-based flight technology firm Pratt & Whitney Global Service Partners. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Pratt & Whitney said Southwest's annual fuel-cost savings could exceed $20 million. The airline also stands to cut 135 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually as a result.

The arrangement with Pratt & Whitney comes as Southwest, along with the rest of the airline industry, faces record-high fuel prices that have led many to trim capacity and levy fees on travelers. Southwest in the first quarter reported a 63 percent drop in profit to $34 million, partially driven by a 34 percent hike in fuel and oil costs compared with the same period of 2007.

Southwest said it is performing regular washes at airports in Orlando, Fla., and Oakland, Calif., where Pratt & Whitney has established new service centers. The EcoPower equipment uses a closed-loop system with atomized water to wash aircraft engines, avoiding contaminant runoff, Pratt & Whitney said. The patented system is considered more effective and faster than traditional engine-washing processes.

Pratt & Whitney parent United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) employs more than 225,000 worldwide and in 2007 recorded $4.22 billion in profit on $54.8 billion in revenue.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Southwest
• Airlines
• Engine
• Wash
• Airplane
• Clean
• Eco
• Green
• Environment
• Emissions

[midnightrider1233]

lol at 32 listen closely theres a chicken clucking

[FujiR500]

@SenorSpode I don't think they ever pushed the fuel levers forward, Looks as if they just used the air pressure generated from the APU to spin the engine as if it were a starting cycle. Then as the engine spun, they sprayed chemicals to clean out the N1-N2 compressors and all the other engine parts, then released the pressure valve. If the engine were Idling, there would have been alot more heat and steam coming from the rear exit portion of the engine.

[ColonialDagger]

Imagine if that thing turned on....

[scotplane]

@FujiR500 Great if the hangers cold! XD

[FujiR500]

@midnightrider1233 Yeah she did sound like a chicken.

[FujiR500]

@scotplane Basically. They spin the compressor cores using compressed air. It takes roughly 600psi to fully start one of these engines. All they did here in this video was initiate the start cylce minus the fuel pump switches and throttle advance. If you have enough air, you could spin it all day long like this and nothing would ever happen without adding fuel. You'd get heat from the engine because the air is being compressed, but no combustion or super heated gases, which makes this possible,

[scotplane]

@FujiR500 So they put the starter switch continuous or flight and just left the fuel cut off off?

[regislafayette77]

@shaunsprogress And almost looks like Cleveland...

[sbranson01]

@midnightrider1233 Nope that's just a chicken-head girl giggling

[Emoegyptian027]

@midnightrider1233 you are silly =P

[GrenadeCatcher]

did that engine just take a drug test?

[bagelboi66]

Pretty fancy looking rig for what amounts to a hose.