A new engine for new helicopters is on the drawing board at Pratt & Whitney Canada and may be launched later this year.

"We are looking at a 900-950 shp engine that would cover the market segment above where the PW207 is today," P&WC president and CEO Gilles Ouimet told Show News. The new engine would power a class of helicopters above the light twins that utilize the 600 -700 shp PW200 series that entered service just under five years ago.

Ouimet would not disclose the potential applications (of which he believes there are "several,") but said talks are underway with manufacturers "for a different segment which could be growth versions of currently PW200-powered helicopters but could also be significantly different aircraft, either twin or a single-engined."

The engine would be a higher powered version of the PW200, retaining its reliability and cost effectiveness, Ouimet added.

"The key to a launch is to satisfy ourselves there is a substantial enough market -- and we believe there is -- and to arrive at a meeting of minds with a credible launch customer. When those two conditions are met, we will shift into high gear."

Before the PW200 entered service in 1996, P&WC had just one product in the helicopter market-the venerable PT6 Twin-Pac. While the new engine was winning its way onto the MD Explorer, EC 135, Agusta 109Power, Bell 427, and 6-8 seat Russian Kazan Ansat, Pratt continued to invest in infusing the PT6 with new technology. The result:wins on the Bell/Agusta BA 609 civil tiltrotor, the new 15-passenger, twin engined Agusta Bell AB 139, the twin-engined PZL Swidnik W-3 Sokol, and the single-engined Agusta A119 Koala.

"For those who think single-engined equipment may not have much attraction, I like to remind them we have over 4,600 single-engined PT6-powered aircraft in service today. That is testimony to the reliability that engine offers," Ouimet said.

By John Morris