Press Release

Issued by Pratt & Whitney Canada.

August 14, 2017

Following successful customer trials, Pratt & Whitney Canada is expanding the commercial rollout of its ground-breaking oil analysis technology. The innovative technology launch now includes multiple PT6A engine models, all of which are used on single-engine aircraft, along with the PW617 engine, which powers the Embraer Phenom 100 aircraft. This is another example of P&WC's advancements in proactive and preventive data-driven engine health management under its rapidly expanding suite of digital engine services. P&WC's oil analysis technology provides innovative oil system prognostic capability for customers of P&WC-powered aircraft. P&WC is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

"Our oil analysis technology gives us high visibility into the health and efficient operation of the engine without intrusive inspections, which is key to maintenance predictability and enhancing aircraft availability," says Michel Toutant, vice president, customer service, P&WC. "When we can identify potential maintenance events at an early stage, they can be addressed proactively or avoided entirely. This is especially advantageous for PT6A SEIFR customers who often rely on only one or two aircraft to run their businesses."

Along with the PW617 engine, the technology is now calibrated for PT6A-114/114A, PT6A-64/66D, PT6A-67B and PT6A-67P engines, each with single-engine instrument flight rules (SEIFR) status for commercial revenue activity. The PT6A is the only engine certified for SEIFR in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

This highly sensitive prognostic solution detects tiny metal traces within engine oil, enabling the identification of deterioration of specific components well before a potential event occurs. P&WC developed and advanced the oil analysis technology program working closely with operators, fixed-based operators and aircraft original equipment manufacturers. Many of them took part in an ongoing customer trial as early adopters to help diversify the oil sample base and calibrate the technology throughout a variety of P&WC engine models. P&WC's oil analysis technology made its commercial debut on PW306A engines at EBACE 2017. To date, more than 5,000 engines are enrolled in the trial, which continues to advance on other engine models.

As part of the oil analysis technology rollout, customers with these engine models will benefit from the new service at no additional cost for a limited time. Under the program, operators will receive customized reports providing indication of oil-wetted component health following each oil sample analysis.

The oil analysis technology complements P&WC's turnkey FAST (Flight Acquisition, Storage and Transmission) solution. The FAST solution captures full-flight engine and aircraft data on hundreds of performance-related parameters, and transmits the data wirelessly to the customer within 15 minutes of the pilot shutting down the engine. The result is rapid access to near-real-time intelligence about engine health, usage and trends. Additionally, the FAST solution has proprietary engine health and usage analytics enabling on-board event detection and crew alerts. It also includes turbine blade creep counting in use on PT6A-140-powered aircraft.

P&WC will be at LABACE 2017 at booth #2010. Interested operators are invited to drop by the booth to speak with a marketing or customer service representative.