A P&WC Thank You

When the first production PT6 engine was shipped in 1963, the global aviation industry was in many ways still in the early stages of its development. Yet to come was the rise of virtually hundreds of aircraft OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who would build a myriad of different aircraft applications, and the thousands of operators who would buy them. In the world of turboprops – itself a tremendously diversified category – one engine stands out as having captured the eye and flying imagination of so many OEMs and operators, Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6 engine.

“We owe a great deal of gratitude to the OEMs around the world who have embraced the PT6 on more than 130 different applications,” says Denis Parisien, Vice President, General Aviation, P&WC. “New aircraft programs are always major undertakings, and OEMs have many factors to manage. So when they select your engine for a program, it means they are placing great faith in your ability to deliver – not just an excellent engine but also the customer support capability to service the engine over the course of its lifetime, which in the case of the PT6 engine can be 25 years or more. As well, operators have clearly embraced the PT6 engine and the aircraft it powers over the past five decades.”

The original designers of the PT6 engine could never have imagined the numerous, often unique, aircraft types that the engine would ultimately power, notes Parisien. But they nonetheless designed an engine that laid the groundwork for the creation of many enduring relationships between P&WC, aircraft OEMs and operators.

“In many instances, as market segments opened and expanded, we grew hand-in-hand with the aircraft OEMs, mutually contributing to each other’s success,” says Parisien. “By working together in the best interests of our operators, we managed to create a vast family of PT6 engine-powered aircraft flying in a variety of market segments.”

Below, we explore the seven aviation segments which the PT6 engine serves.