SOLOY HAS TAKEN delivery of the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, which will serve as the prototype for its Dual Pac-re-engineing programme.
The Olympia, Washington based company also says that it now has sufficient funding for the project, courtesy of local businessman Keith McCaw.
Soloy's plan is to certificate the Caravan with its 990kW (1,330shp) Dual Pac driving a single propeller in place of the usual 500kW Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A.
The Dual Pac, itself, consists of two PT6D-114As, with a patented combining gearbox. The power plant is in final certification testing, with approval due in June, and the Caravan will be the first aircraft certificated to use it.
Company president Joe Soloy expects that the "twin-engine single-propeller" aircraft will be certificated within 22 months. He wants to have the prototype flying at the National Business Aircraft Association convention at Las Vegas, Nevada, at the end of September.
Soloy says that the modification includes a 1.83m fuselage stretch, an increase of maximum gross weight to 4,770kg, and a new engine cowling faired into a redesigned cargo pod.
Caravan-float-manufacturer Wipaire is working in co-ordination with Soloy to design and produce floats for the new model.
Source: Flight International
