Pratt & Whitney Canada says that the PW150A turboprop, seen here on the company's Boeing 720 flying testbed, is "on schedule for certification by late summer". The large turboprop, rated at 4,840-5,590kW (6,500-7,500shp) will power Bombardier's de Havilland Dash 8 Series 400 regional airliner on its first flight scheduled for later this year. The PW150A has 100% higher cruise power than current PW100s and is designed with a new three-stage low-pressure (LP) axial compressor and a single-stage high-pressure (HP) centrifugal compressor, each driven independently by cooled, single-stage LP and HP turbines. A total of 12 engines are being used in the test programme, with a further nine flight engines due for delivery to de Havilland for the Dash 8 certification effort.
Source: Flight International
