Next Stop: Palm Beach For Testing

Assembly has been completed on the first PurePower PW1217G engine to test for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) aircraft. The engine, rated at 17,000 pounds of thrust, is the third PurePower PW1000G series engine to complete assembly. It will be delivered to Pratt & Whitney's West Palm Beach, FL, facility to initiate testing. The MRJ Last Bolt Ceremony was held Thursday at the company's Middletown Engine Center in Connecticut.

"The PurePower engine is an integral part of the new Mitsubishi Regional Jet," Yukihiko Nakata, senior deputy project manager, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, told Pratt & Whitney employees at the MRJ Last Bolt Ceremony today. "We continue to work closely with Pratt & Whitney to integrate the engine with the airframe, and we look forward to getting the initial test results from this first engine to test."

"Completion of this first engine to test for the PW1200G series is another important milestone for the PurePower engine program," said Bob Saia, vice president, Next Generation Product Family. "Ground testing of our first PurePower engine exceeded our expectations, and I predict that testing for this first PW1217G engine will produce similar results."

The PW1200G engine test program will run a total of eight test engines over the next 24 months. Entry into service is scheduled for 2014. Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation has sold MRJ aircraft to All Nippon Airways and Trans States Holdings.

Pratt & Whitney recently completed initial ground testing of its first PW1000G series engine with nearly 200 hours of testing. PurePower engine core testing concluded last year with more than 260 accumulated test hours. In addition to the core testing, critical module-level testing for the PurePower engine program has been performed, which includes fan drive gear system testing with simulations of more than 60,000 takeoffs and landings, and hundreds of hours of testing on the low- and high-pressure compressor with advanced designs meeting or exceeding efficiency and operability goals.

FMI: www.purepowerengines.com