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It’s an airline journey of more than 1,400 kilometres — and that’s just along the length of the wiring and fibre optic cables installed in GE’s new Boeing 747 test jet.

The 20-year-old airliner has been retrofitted with innumerable sensors that provide an unparalleled level of data connectivity, all to test a suite of next-generation jet engines. An array of powerful computers, meanwhile, fly economy class, allowing crews and technicians to process and analyze terabytes of complex data while the plane remains airborne.

The plane was purchased from Japan Airlines and underwent a 14-month conversion. Wing structures were reinforced and modified and new holes were drilled inside the fuselage to make way for fibre optics and wiring harnesses. Seats were removed to make room for banks of computers and state-of-the art avionics. More than 1,700 instruments and sensors were embedded in the plane to monitor thrust, temperature, fuel consumption and other critical data.