P&WC Celebrates Milestones at EBACE

Pratt & Whitney Canada – a business unit of Pratt & Whitney – recently reached the distinguished milestone of one billion flight hours powered by its engines since it formed nearly a century ago.

Founded in November 1928, the Canadian Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company as it was then called acted as a service center for Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, eventually moving into assembly, then manufacture of Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines.

Over the decades the portfolio of powerplants and APUs have bloomed and P&WC engines span the jet, turboprop and turboshaft markets powering a diverse portfolio of missions, including Business Aviation, General Aviation, regional aviation, special missions, and more.

Over 110,000 engines have been produced during this time, and more than 66,000 Pratt & Whitney Canada engines are currently in service powering some 16,000+ customers around the world.

“Aviation has the power to change the world, and our engines power aircraft that benefit millions of people every day,” said Maria Della Posta, President, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “Every second, a P&WC-powered aircraft takes off or lands somewhere on the planet, whether they’re driving commerce, reuniting families, or powering humanitarian missions, emergency medical services, or search and rescue missions.

“Achieving one billion flying hours is made possible by the dedicated team at Pratt & Whitney Canada along with our customers, suppliers and the extended P&WC community,” she adds. “We look forward to celebrating this achievement with them this year.”

60 Years of the PT6

Concurrently, Pratt & Whitney is marking ‘60 years of excellence and innovation’ since it introduced its PT6 engine in 1963 – a powerplant that accounts for well over half the engines P&WC have built over the years.

Design of the PT6 turboprop engine began in 1958, and since coming to the market the powerplant has been continuously developed and expanded to meet the demands of successive generations of aircraft and continue to dominate the turboprop engine market today in particular.

“Today's PT6 is up to four times more powerful, has a 50% better power-to-weight ratio and up to 20% better specific fuel consumption compared to the original engine,” Della Posta highlights.

“Each new model is developed and designed with a specific mission, platform and customer in mind, while pursuing a reduced environmental footprint.”

Embraced by fixed-wing and helicopter airframers around the world, more than 64,000 PT6 engines have been produced since introduction to the market in 1963, and more than 155 different aviation applications utilize the PT6. Of the one billion flying hours achieved to date by Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, 500,000 million were flown with PT6 engines.

And the relentless technological evolution of the PT6 engine shows no sign of abating anytime soon. It has perhaps never been more apparent than with the latest engine family, the PT6 E-Series, which became the first engine family with a dualchannel integrated electronic propeller and engine control system in General Aviation.

Selected by Pilatus Aircraft to power its PC-12 NGX, the PT6E67XP engine recently reached 100,000 hours of flight in only three years of operations. Pratt & Whitney Canada remains committed to “ensuring that the PT6 remains the engine of choice for its customers and the industry well into the future”.

Also at EBACE with P&WC

In addition to promoting the 60th anniversary of the PT6 engine and one billion flight hours for its engines, Pratt & Whitney will have a team on hand at EBACE (Booth J72) to discuss the various products and services that it offers. This includes…

PW800 Engine

Pratt & Whitney Canada will feature its PW800 + interactive screen at its booth, enabling attendees to learn more about not only the PW800, but the PW500 engine and PT6 E-Series engine.

Customer Services Hub

The team will also be featuring Pratt & Whitney’s new Customer Services Hub (launched at NBAA-BACE in October last year) with a touch screen for people to come and discover how to find maintenance services for your P&WC powerplant in a few simple clicks online.

Sustainability

The team will be available to talk about sustainability at EBACE, including Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Carbon Offsetting solutions, and the new technologies the company is injecting into its engines to make them more sustainable.

This includes longer maintenance intervals, lower fuel consumption, lower noise, and more.

…Marking (Yet) Another Milestone

In addition, Pratt & Whitney Canada is also celebrating the production of the 1,000th PW308C engine that will power the 500th Falcon 2000 model aircraft, and the production of the 6,000th powerplant in the PW300 engine family (which today powers Bombardier, Dassault, Dornier, Gulfstream, Textron, and Virgin Galactic aircraft).

More information from www.pwc.ca