System Approved for Textron King Air And Citation Models

Wichita, Kansas-based PWI, a leading supplier of aircraft interior and exterior lighting systems to OEM the likes of Textron Aviation and Dassault, has been granted FAA Parts Manufacturing Approval (PMA) for an LED logo-light for Beechcraft King Air 90, 200, 300, B300/350; and the Beech 1900 C/D aircraft.

PWI’s new LED floodlight architecture illuminates the vertical empennage surfaces of Beechcraft’s perennially-popular King Air family of twin-engine turboprops, showcasing company logos, slogans, or registration numbers painted thereupon.

Additionally, two of the described lights are utilized by Textron Aviation as wing-inspection lights on the company’s Cessna Citation X 750.

The service life of PWI’s new LED lights is equivalent, more or less, to the combined service lives of 625-halogen bulbs.

The powerful 5,000K (kelvin) color temperature LED improves night visibility, provides long life, accurate color illumination, and improved light output with lower heat.

In addition to fleet marketing for passenger and cargo air-carriers, charter operators, air-ambulance concerns, and special mission aircraft, PWI’s LED logo-light improves safety by enhancing aircraft visibility during taxi, takeoff, approach, and landing operations. Furthermore, the system aids ATC personnel (VFR tower and ground controllers) in identifying and directing aircraft on the ground.

The PWI LED logo-light includes the LED light, light socket, reflector, and pivoting adjustment bracket. The system—the LED service-life of which is one-hundred-THOUSAND operational hours—replaces the 160-hour life A70828 halogen bulb. The 3-LED design, which requires only 11 watts, produces 1600 Lumens—six-hundred more than the 3,000K halogen bulb, which requires 50.4 watts. Also, the PWI LED elements draw 4.5 times fewer amps and generate less than half the heat of halogen elements, thereby preserving floodlight lenses.

The PWI LED passed DO-160G vibration testing.

PMA approved aircraft for PWI’s LED logo-light (PWI Part Number: 7310050-000) include: Beechcraft King Air C90, C90A, C90GT, C90GTi, E90, 200, 200T, 200C, 200CT, B200, B200T, B200C, B200CT, B200GT, B200CGT, 300, 300LW, B300, B300C, Beechcraft 1900 C and D models;

PWI president and CEO Robi Lorik stated: “PWI has applied LED technology to many Beech King Air lighting challenges and this new LED tail floodlight addresses visual branding, aircraft visibility, and thus mission safety. It also makes viewing the aircraft from the FBO and out on a crowded ramp easier, and I know our charter and air-med customers will appreciate that. And no bulb beats our LEDs for long service life.”

PWI, Inc.—formerly Precision Winding, Inc.—was founded in 1963 by Miklos (Miki) Lorik, an immigrant who fled Hungary with his wife and her family during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Mr. Lorik modified his wife’s sewing machine and used the resultant contraption to create small, precision wire-wound resistors—thereby laying the groundwork for what would become a successful coil-winding business. That Lorik’s client-list and company grew is certain—as is the fact that he steadily acquired increasingly modern and advanced winding machines. What remains unknown is whether or not Mrs. Lorik ever got her sewing machine back.

Today, PWI serves the aerospace, agricultural, automotive, motorcycle, and military industries. The Kansas company maintains a highly-skilled engineering staff by dint of which it develops and supports state-of-the-art technologies the likes of its FAA-approved LED aircraft cabin, and external lighting systems.

FMI: www.pwi-e.com