Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

Pratt &amp; Whitney Canada provided an update at a media breakfast today at NBAA 2011 in Las Vegas, addressing several programs and projects in development, giving reporters a glimpse of P&amp;WC news of tomorrow. The PW800 turbofan, which had been slated to power the now-cancelled Cessna Columbus large-cabin jet, is still in development while the company continues to seek a launch customer. However, P&amp;WC has completed a state-of-the-art production facility for the engine in Mirabel, Quebec, where the PW1523G (geared) turbofan will also be built. It has been selected to power the Bombardier CSeries airliner as well as the Mitsubishi MRJ and Irkut MC-21. P&amp;WC has been supporting its sister company Pratt &amp; Whitney in developing the PW1000G engine family, formerly known as the GTF (geared turbofan) engine series.
P&amp;WC is concurrently continuing to advance the technology and capabilities of its flagship PT6 turboprop family. Eva Azoulay, vice president of strategic planning and business development, noted that the engine has been certified in 130 different aircraft and that the company is currently working to improve the engine’s specific fuel consumption by between 15 and 30 percent.
P&amp;WC is also committed to improving real-time engine diagnostics. Maria Della Posta, senior vice president of sales and marketing, noted that the cost of satellite transmission has declined markedly, making it economical to download large amounts of captured data for analysis on the ground, which can be done through the company’s data transmission units. P&amp;WC is also focusing on identifying critical information within the data stream. “Getting data is the easy part; sorting through it to get the wisdom, that’s the difficult part,” said Raffaele Virgili, vice president of customer service.

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.