P&WC PT6 E-Series Celebrates Milestone: Rapidly Achieving 15,000 Flight Hours Powering the Pilatus PC-12 NGX

Pratt & Whitney Canada announced today that its PT6 E-Series™ engine has achieved yet another milestone, reaching 15,000 hours of flight powering the Pilatus PC-12 NGX aircraft.

“The popularity of the new PT6E-67XP-powered PC-12NGX aircraft among buyers of turboprop business aircraft has brought us to 15,000 hours in a little more than a year since it was launched in October 2019,” said Nicholas Kanellias, vice president, General Aviation, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “As the first engine in General Aviation to feature a dual-channel integrated propeller and engine control system, the PT6E-67XP engine is a key, new feature of this impressive and top-selling aircraft in the marketplace. It’s another chapter in the PT6 engine family’s long history of driving rapid, fundamental change and innovation in the industry.”

The iconic PT6 engine occupies a unique place in the history of powered aviation and is used on more than 130 different applications today. The engine family’s current flying population is more than 25,000 units and it has accumulated more than 425 million flight hours and counting. Each new model of engine is developed and designed for a mission, platform, and customer in mind, while continuing to build a more efficient, digitally connected engine with a shrinking environmental footprint.

In March 2021, the 100th PT6 E-Series engine rolled off the production line at Pratt & Whitney’s PT6 Turboprop Engine Centre of Excellence in Lethbridge, Canada. The milestone was reached more than a year into the challenges of COVID-19 and followed an exceptional effort by the P&WC team to bring the new production line into service. The PT6 E-Series engine was awarded the 2020 Laureate in the Business Aviation – Propulsion category as part of Aviation Week Network’s Annual Laureate Awards.

“In as much as milestones are important to show the rapid progress of the engine, it’s really been the feedback we’re receiving from our customers that is most gratifying,” said Kanellias. “Our Airtime customer blog recently featured an article on a new PC-12 NGX owner/pilot who reported that he enjoys the flying experience so much that he’s flown twice the number of hours he initially expected to. That’s a great testament to our propeller and engine control system and how it elevates the entire piloting experience.”