GE93 To Power New Cessna Single-Engine Turboprop

GE Aviation will build the GE93 engine for Cessna's clean-sheet turboprop airplane in its Walter Aircraft Engine factory in Prague, the company announced Monday.

On the GE Reports blog, the company said that it would use a portion of its $400 million investment in Europe to build its new turboprop development, test and engine-production headquarters in the Czech Republic. The center, which will employ more than 500 workers and engineers, will make the new engine for Textron and other customers beginning in 2020. “We like to build things in the Czech Republic and there is a deep pool of engineering talent in the country,” said Paul Corkery, GE’s ATP program manager. “We’ve been building aircraft engines here since the early days of aviation, but this new center will take it to a whole new level.”

The advanced turboprop, called GE93, burns 20 percent less fuel and produces 10 percent more power compared to engines in its class. It will allow pilots to carry less fuel for the same mission, said Brad Mottier, vice president of business and general aviation and integrated systems at GE Aviation. Mottier says that “jetlike controls” in the cockpit will allow Textron to “design a different class of aircraft.”

Like the Wright brothers, Josef Walter, the founder of Walter Aircraft Engines, started out by building bicycles. He opened his bike shop in Prague in 1898, progressed to motorcycles and car engines, and built the first aircraft engine in 1923.

Textron said in announcing the Cessna Advanced Turboprop airplane that it would have a range of more than 1,500 nautical miles and fly at speeds above 280 knots. That would make it a direct competitor with the Pilatus PC-12, which claims similar performance.

Textron plans to have a “single engine turboprop article” on display at AirVenture this summer.

(Images from GE Reports blog)

FMI: www.geaviation.com, www.textron.com