Piper Receives 1,000th PT6A-42A, Earns M600 MEL Approval

Piper Aircraft announced at AirVenture 2022 that it has received its 1,000^th PT6A-42A engine from Pratt & Whitney Canada. Piper has been using the engine model for its single-engine turboprops since beginning production of the Meridian in 2000, and it currently powers Piper aircraft including the M500, M600 and M600 SLS. Piper says its 1,000^th PT6A-42A will be installed on an M600 SLS slated to enter service next month.

“Since 1974, Piper Aircraft has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the team at Pratt & Whitney Canada,” said Piper Aircraft President and CEO John Calcagno. “And while milestones are important to us, it has really been the collaboration that we have established with Pratt & Whitney Canada that has most gratifying. For both the M500 and M600 SLS the PT6A-42A engine has proven itself over and over again.”

Piper also announced at the show that a Minimum Equipment List (MEL) for the M600 turboprop single has earned FAA approval. The company noted that the approval will allow the M600 to be used for charter operations under Part 135. Piper delivered the first M600 in 2016 and the latest version, the M600 SLS, became the first aircraft equipped with Garmin’s Autoland system to receive FAA type certification in 2020.