Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (P&WC) completed on May 4 the first run of its new PW610F turbine engine selected by Eclipse Aviation Corp. to power the twin-engine Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet (VLJ). The smallest member of P&WC’s PW600 engine series achieved rated takeoff thrust (900 pounds) after only five hours of the test run. As a result, Vern Raburn, president and chief executive officer of Eclipse Aviation, said first flight of the production-conforming Eclipse 500 with the P&WC engines is on schedule to take place in late 2004. “We have a great partner in Pratt & Whitney Canada and are extremely pleased by the results of the PW610F development program to date — the ability to achieve takeoff thrust during the first run is an example of how well the program is progressing.” Certification of the PW610F, which is controlled through a dual-channel FADEC, is expected in the first quarter of 2006 and customer deliveries of the Eclipse 500 are expected to begin shortly thereafter. “This first run of a PW610F development engine at full takeoff thrust represents an important milestone in this exciting development program,” said Alain M. Bellemare, president of P&WC. “The PW610F is on track to undergo flight trials on P&WC’s flying test bed in August 2004, and deliveries of the first prototype engines to Eclipse are expected to begin in early December.”
