GE H80

According to both Thrush Aircraft and GE Aviation, next week will be an important one in the progress of the latter’s H80 turboprop engine. That’s when GE will deliver the first fully production compliant model for installation on the Thrush 510G agplane.

When it receives its FAA certification, expected before year end, the 510G will become the first new-build aircraft to be powered by the engine – a reworked power plant aimed directly at the market dominated for decades by the PT6, produced by GE Aviation’s arch rival, Pratt & Whitney.

Jody Bays, Thrush Aircraft’s vice president of Product Support and Development, says that when compared to the 750 shp PT6-powered 510P, the 800 shp GE version is 250 lb lighter, 10 mph faster, has better hot and high performance, and gets off the ground and climbs out faster.

Furthermore, since the GE’s “slinger” fuel feed design eschews fuel nozzles and requires no hot section inspection, “there’s essentially no real maintenance performed on the GE between TBOs,” and those come every 3600 hours.

Thrush is pricing both versions of the 510 at $852,635. The Albany, Ga.-based company plans to increase production of all its models from 36 aircraft this year to 48 in 2012. It hopes to deliver four Thrush 510Gs this year.

The H80 is derived from the M601, manufactured by Walter Engines, a Prague-based company GE acquired in 2008. Since then GE has invested considerably in its Czech facilities and reworked the engine with GE-developed three-dimensional aerodynamics and more advanced materials.

The GE engine has also been selected to power the Czech-built Let 410, whose first flight should occur in September, and a new Russian utility twin to be built by Rysachok. GE says other agplane makers have expressed interest in the engine, and that an amended STC for converting King Air 90s is in process.

eneral Electric has submitted all documents to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for certification of the Czech-built H80 turboprop and is on track to deliver 12 engines before the end of the year.

The H80, derived from the original Walter M601 but heavily modified with GE’s 3-D aero-design know-how, forms the core of the company’s nascent strategy to penetrate the business and general aviation (BGA) market. In particular, GE sees a largely untapped niche in the agricultural, GA and utility market for a competitor to Pratt & Whitney Canada’s ubiquitous PT6 turboprop.

Certification work is being undertaken at GE Aviation Czech’s facility in Letnany. Acknowledging the delay, Brad Mottier, VP and general manager of GE’s BGA unit, says, “More than 60 reports have been submitted and some required a few comments.”

In the meantime, GE continues to deliver engines to the initial users in the U.S., Russia and the Czech Republic.

Following initial test runs in March 2010, the first production-compliant H80 powered an updated Thrush 510G crop duster for its first flight from the airframe maker’s Albany, Ga., site on Nov. 23, 2010. Ahead of EASA certification, Mottier says that “we’ve now delivered two conforming engines for the production line, and there will be no changes that we anticipate.”

A pair of H80s also have been installed on a Czech-made Let 410 for a planned re-engining program, while shipments are planned to support the Rysachok utility aircraft program in Russia. Technoavia, developer of the Rysachok, has begun initial test flights of the prototype using M601F engines in the interim.

“Once we get EASA certification, we have to pursue FAA [certification],” says Mottier, who is optimistic about clearance on both by year-end.