Pratt & Whitney Canada says its PW800 breakthrough engine in the 10,000lb-20,000lb-thrust segment is performing in line with expectations on Gulfstream’s four G500 test aircraft, with total flight hours now “well past” 2,000 and “climbing rapidly”.
The engine – which began flight tests on P&WC’s own Boeing 747 test aircraft in 2013 – has been flying on the new Gulfstream type since last year. The G500, which is powered by the PW814 variant, and its G600 stablemate, which will use the PW815, are due to enter service in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
The Gulfstream contract – quietly awarded as long ago as 2010, but not announced for another four years – was a significant fillip for P&WC, which had initially developed the engine for the Cessna Columbus before that programme was cancelled in 2009. Rolls-Royce had long been the Savannah-based airframer’s incumbent engine supplier.
Although there are no other likely applications on the near horizon, Michael Perodeau, vice president of corporate and military aviation at P&WC, says the fact the engine’s core is based on the successful PW1000G geared turbofan that powers the Airbus A320neo, Bombardier CSeries and Embraer E2 among others “derisks” the programme for potential customers.
“Although the PW800 has a direct drive fan rather than a geared one, we can get all the synergies from the learnings of the engine application. It means we can offer a large derisking of the programme for ourselves and our customers,” he says.
The PW800 is not P&WC’s entry into the large-cabin segment; its 4,700lb to 8,000lb-thrust PW300 series powers the Dassault Falcon 7X trijet, as well as its 8X successor, and is also the engine on the Cessna Citation Latitude and Sovereign. However, it is the most-powerful engine the Canadian company offers for business jets.
Meanwhile, the PW500 series powers the Cessna Citation XLS and Embraer Phenom 300. The Eclipse 550, Phenom 100 and Cessna Citation Mustang all use the smaller PW600.
Source: Flight Daily News
