LHTEC Produces Premier Power Plant
For Ayres 'Parcel' Plane

The Light Turbine Helicopter Turbine Engine Company (LHTEC) disclosed that it's delivered the first CTP800-4T for the Ayres Loadmaster, enabling it to undergo final preparation for its maiden flight.

Designed to the specification of Federal Express, the LM200 Loadmaster is a single-pilot, single-prop light freighter driven by a 'twin-barrel propulsion system' of two parallel-coupled T800 turbine engines, each with its own FADEC.

Total power of the PSU (propulsion system unit) is 2,700 hp, which it delivers to a 13 ft diameter Hamilton Sundstrand 568F-11 propeller via a GKN Westland combining gearbox. The 19,000 lb aircraft will carry a 7,500 lb containerized payload over a 650 mile sector, its PSU giving it twin-engine reliability combined with a superior power-to-weight ratio, fuel consumption and operating cost, compared with more traditional twins.

LHTEC is a 50/50 partnership between Honeywell Engines & Systems and Rolls-Royce. Until now, the joint venture has been better known for the baseline T800 engine which powers the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 next-generation combat helicopter. Its twinned variant has accumulated more than 350 hours of bench testing.

FedEx has 75 Loadmasters on order and options on a further 175. Smaller operators in the U.S., Netherlands and South Africa also plan to fly the box-shaped freighter when manufacture begins at Dothan, Alabama. Military, remote-sensing, floatplane and other versions are planned as the program progresses towards a target of 600 sales by 2010.

By Paul Jackson