Business & GA

Pratt & Whitney Canada is poised to announce the delivery of the first shipset of PW617F engines to Embraer for the Phenom 100, marking the third delivery milestone for the new very light jet PW600 family.

The PW617F, which completed its maiden flight on P&WC’s Boeing 720 flying testbed in mid-October 2006, was selected by Embraer for its VLJ contender in May 2005. Design work on the derivative, rated at 1,695lb (7.5kN) thrust for the Brazilian application, began in July 2005 with first run to full take-off power at the company’s Mississauga, Ontario test site in 29 June, 2006. The engine expected is expected to be granted Transport Canada certification in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Final assembly of the Phenom 100 prototype started this month at Embraer’s São José dos Campos site in Brazil with first flight scheduled for mid-year and certification and entry into service for mid-2008.

First deliveries of the 1,350lb-thrust rated PW615F variant for the Cessna Citation Mustang meanwhile took place in March 2006, two months after engine certification, while the 900lb thrust PW610F, the first production version of the family, was certified for use on the Eclipse 500 in late July 2006. All three members of the PW600 family stem from technology demonstrated on the 2,500lb thrust PW625F which first ran on 31 October, 2001