Pratt & Whitney Canada announced that it has expanded its portfolio of P&WCSMART Solutions – made popular with its “flat-rate” and “capped-cost” programmes for major maintenance events – to include a new category of service-based solutions. The first offering under the category is the P&WCSMART Subscription Service for PT6A Engines, which provides selected scheduled and unscheduled maintenance coverage, parts replacement, and digital engine health services for engines between their hot section inspection (HSI) and overhaul.
“Our new P&WCSMART Subscription Service addresses a unique niche and need in our PT6A operator base, with a solution tailored expressly for those who are in the post-HSI stage of the engine lifecycle and not on an engine maintenance program,” said John Lewis, director of customer programmes, general aviation, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “By providing a bundle of ongoing engine maintenance, services and support through an affordable annual subscription, we can help operators cost-effectively maintain their engines to ensure the highest possible asset value and performance.”
The solution’s flexible model provides options based on annual flying hours and includes the choice of one or three-year subscription terms that are renewable for select PT6A engine models. It also includes a credit toward a P&WCSMART overhaul. For customers who purchase a P&WCSMART Hot Section Inspection for their PT6A engine, enrolment for the first year of P&WCSMART Subscription Service is free.
PT6 E-Series celebrates milestone
Pratt & Whitney Canada announced that its PT6 E-Series engine has achieved yet another milestone, reaching 15,000 hours of flight powering the Pilatus PC-12 NGX aircraft. “The popularity of the new PT6E-67XP-powered PC-12NGX aircraft among buyers of turboprop business aircraft has brought us to 15,000 hours in a little more than a year since it was launched in October 2019,” said Nicholas Kanellias, vice president, General Aviation, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “As the first engine in General Aviation to feature a dual-channel integrated propeller and engine control system, the PT6E-67XP engine is a key, new feature of this impressive and top-selling aircraft in the marketplace. It’s another chapter in the PT6 engine family’s long history of driving rapid, fundamental change and innovation in the industry.”
The iconic PT6 engine occupies a unique place in the history of powered aviation and is used on more than 130 different applications today. The engine family’s current flying population is more than 25,000 units and it has accumulated more than 425 million flight hours and counting. Each new model of engine is developed and designed for a mission, platform, and customer in mind, while continuing to build a more efficient, digitally connected engine with a shrinking environmental footprint.
In March 2021, the 100th PT6 E-Series engine rolled off the production line at Pratt & Whitney’s PT6 Turboprop Engine Centre of Excellence in Lethbridge, Canada. The milestone was reached more than a year into the challenges of COVID-19 and followed an exceptional effort by the P&WC team to bring the new production line into service. The PT6 E-Series engine was awarded the 2020 Laureate in the Business Aviation – Propulsion category as part of Aviation Week Network’s Annual Laureate Awards.