Winnipeg-based Standard Aero has earned a Supplemental Type Certificate to remove Pratt and Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6A-41 engines from Beech King Air 200 models and replace them with modern, more fuel efficient PT6A-42 engines. In many ways the classic King Airs and the original PT6 models created a new class of aircraft but they’re due for an upgrade, “PT6A-41 engines have been in service for more than 35 years, many of which are approaching their third and fourth overhaul,” said Standard Aero’s spokesman Manny Atwal.
It’s getting more expensive to overhaul the old engines and Atwal said it costs only a little more to put the new engines, with their better performance and efficiency, on instead. With the new engines, Standard Aero says the King Air 200 will cruise at 290 knots at 24,000 feet. No airframe modifications are required.
