Company Official Says The Powerplants Are 'On Track' For Certification

Pratt & Whitney has successfully completed more than 1,000 hours of full engine testing on its PurePower engines for its first two applications – the PW1500G engine series for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft and the PW1200G engine series for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. Four PW1500G engines and two PW1200G engines have undergone testing to date. Each engine model will run a total of eight test engines leading to engine certification.

PW1200G File Photo

In September, the PW1524G engine for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft completed its first flight test program logging 25 flights with 115 flight hours. This first flight engine continues testing at the Pratt & Whitney sea-level test facility in West Palm Beach, FL. A PW1524G flight test engine was recently delivered to Pratt & Whitney Canada's Mirabel Aerospace Centre, in Mirabel, Quebec (Canada) for mounting on the company's flying test bed to begin a second flight test campaign by year end.

Early last month, Pratt & Whitney announced the conclusion of the initial phase of ground testing of the PW1217G engine for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet aircraft. The engine completed more than 300 hours and 1,100 cycles.

"We are on track for engine certification next year. Initial engine testing confirms we will meet our customer commitments on our initial models," said Bob Saia, vice president, Next Generation Product Family. "This first block of engine testing, including the PW1524G flight testing, validated the overall engine design and positions us well going forward."

The PurePower family of engines is designed to power the next generation of passenger aircraft. The company says the combination of its gear system and advanced core allows PurePower engines to deliver double-digit improvements in fuel efficiency and emissions with a 50-percent reduction in noise over today's engines.

The PurePower engine has been selected as exclusive power for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft and Mitsubishi Regional Jets. It will also power the first Airbus A320neo aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2015, as well as the Irkut MC-21 narrow-body jet scheduled to enter service in 2016.

FMI: www.purepowerengines.com