Dallas Airmotive has commissioned a new PW300 and PW500 repair and overhaul facility at its Forest Park production center in Dallas. The 13,000-sq-ft facility follows the company’s 2004 appointment by Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) as a designated overhaul facility for the engines. Adjacent to the facility is a new test cell, calibrated to P&WC standards and certified by the engine OEM.

The new facility includes eight engine bays dedicated to PW300 and PW500 repair and overhaul. In addition, it houses several new pieces of precision service equipment, including a Precitech rotor stacking machine, a Faro coordinated measuring machine, a Schenck mass moment balancing machine and a Schenck vertical balancing machine.

The new test cell was conceived and created to accommodate a 500-pounds-per-second engine mass flow and a maximum thrust load of 10,000 pounds, allowing it to support the largest PW300 and PW500 series engines. In addition, the cell’s external noise footprint measures a quiet 65 dB at Dallas Airmotive’s property boundary, meeting or exceeding local ordinances and making it “neighbor friendly.”

The new design allows for engine pre-test preparation to take place outside of the test cell, thereby maximizing the amount of time the cell is available for actual test runs. Before entering the cell, fuel lines, oil lines and data sensors are attached between the engine and a strong back (support harness). Once the engine is brought to the test cell, installation can take as little as 30 minutes.

Service capabilities on the PW300 and PW500 include overhaul, repair, hot section and re-work. The facility also provides complete services for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A, PT6T and JT15D and the Rolls-Royce Spey and Tay.