Caution at Pratt & Whitney Canada (Booth 1835) has given way to optimism as the recovery in business aviation shows solid underpinnings. "Our plate is about full," says company president Alain Bellemare, looking ahead to promises he must keep and new engines he must deliver. But there is always room to win more competitions as airframers develop new models.
P&WC currently has an astonishing 27 engine centerlines, derivatives and model changes under development as it strives to provide the power for new and "refreshed" general aviation, business aircraft and helicopters.
"We have certificated 43 engines in the last 10 years, and now we believe we're getting good at it," says Bellemare. By that he means Pratt has learned enough about the small engine business to cut development time for a new engine to three years from a previous six or seven, matching—and sometimes facilitating—the desire of airframe manufacturers to accelerate the "refreshing" of their models to every four years.
"Now we can be much more responsive to market changes," Bellemare told Show News.
Meanwhile Pratt is expanding the aftermarket activities that already support 38,000 engines and 8,300 operators around the world. "We have 24/7 worldwide service, 100 field reps, 20 international locations for overhaul facilities and aftermarket support—and we are expanding our designated MRO facilities to include the PW300 and PW500," he said. "We're addressing the growth of the market by expanding the aftermarket.
"Technology can be achieved, but there is more to a package than technology," he added. "We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this segment over the years."
No major announcements are planned for this year's NBAA Convention, but P&WC continues to hit milestones on its new engine programs. Among them:
PW600—Orders for some 230 Cessna Mustangs and 2,100 Eclipse 500s mean P&WC is looking at a backlog of nearly 5,000 engines before either aircraft has even entered service. "We've never had any program start like that before," said Bellemare.
The PW615 for the Mustang has racked up 120 hours of flight test on a CitationJet test bed in Wichita plus 400 hours in the test cell. It is on track for the first flight of the Mustang in the first quarter of 2005.
The PW610F for the Eclipse 500 has logged 200 hours in the test cell. "We're very pleased with progress," said Bellemare. He allowed that these small engines are very complex in that a lot of sophisticated technology is employed to make them simple. The PW600 family, for example, has just half the parts count of a PW500 engine, and will rely on a dual-channel FADEC full authority digital electronic control (and airplane interface) to make pilot operation simple, too.
PW307A—The PW307A for the Dassault Falcon 7X is on target following delivery of the first integrated propulsion systems for the first airplane in June. Test engines have logged over 2,400 hours in the cell and 300 hours on both of Pratt's Boeing 720 test beds, marking the first time that two 307As have been airborne at the same time, albeit on different aircraft. Engine certification is slated for second quarter 2005.
PW308C—More than 30 Falcon 2000EXs are now flying with the PW308, pushing engine flight hours beyond 17,000. Entry into service was generally smooth, although a number of engines were changed as operators reported a vibration "that was more an irritant than a performance issue," said Bellemare. Improved balancing techniques have solved the problem and modification kits are being shipped. The problem didn't manifest itself on test, Bellemare said, as it involves very, very low limits that Pratt couldn't hitherto achieve but has now been able to incorporate in its test cells as a result of this experience.
The PW300 family has now logged over two million flight hours with 1,300 engines in service. It powers the Dornier 328JET, Hawker 1000, Learjet 60, Gulfstream G200 and Cessna Sovereign, and will soon be entering service on the Hawker Horizon.
