For Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC), EAA AirVenture, which officially opened yesterday, is an ideal opportunity to meet with its general aviation customers, as well as aircraft manufacturers, said Ryan Densham, the engine maker’s general manager of sales and marketing for general aviation. “GA for us is kind of the foundation of Pratt Canada,” he told AIN. “Fundamentally this company’s entire support structure is set on small operators.”

PW&C traditionally holds an information session on its legendary PT-6 powerplant at Oshkosh, detailing its nearly six-decade history and development, and this year for the first time it will augment that with several application-specific programs. These sessions will focus on the turboprop engine’s use on the Daher TBM series, the Pilatus PC-12, Piper aircraft such as the Meridian, and the Epic E1000.

“The selection of those four was simply based on our historical view of the customers who attend this show,” said Densham, adding that P&WC will review responses to this year’s panels to expand or change the topics in future years. “Instead of covering application specific, we might do a bunch of sessions that are all geared toward one topic, but the point is that we want to be able to use Oshkosh as a forum to reach our customers, talk to them, get their feedback.” 

The manufacturer is ready to greet customers in Oshkosh with a booth staffed with product experts. “We don’t hire contractors, we don’t send generic salespeople,” explained Densham. “We actually bring the people who are dealing with our customers on a day-to-day basis, whether that’s marketing or sales on dealing with aircraft manufacturers, or on the aftermarket side with service engineering people that directly take care of operators in the field.” They will highlight the company’s new “Go Beyond” mantra, which aims to create tailored solutions for each of the different segments it serves.

Among the products to discuss is P&WC’s Flight Acquisition Storage and Transmission (FAST) data collection and retrieval system, which is available on the company’s engines for the Cessna Caravan and Grand Caravan, the King Air family, the Pilatus PC-12NG, which was announced in May at EBACE, and most recently, the Air Tractor series of agricultural aircraft. The system will transmit engine performance data to the manufacturer, which will analyze it for possible warnings and return it to the operator within 15 minutes of engine shutdown. “At the end of the day, it's about preventing things before they happen and helping our customers operate their products more effectively,” said Densham.

That proactive mindset extends to the company’s recently launched oil analysis service, which Densham explained is very different from the past oil analysis technologies. “Effectively, we’re able to determine things happening way longer than you would in traditional methods of looking at oil,” he stated. “A lot of those processes, while effective, don’t give you a lot of time between finding something, and something happening, so what this new oil analysis technology does, is it takes you hundreds of hours before something happens, and that brings you into what we call a planned maintenance environment.” With such advanced warning, an engine part can be replaced before it fails, and thereby avoid any potential downstream damage that might result.

Another topic the OEM looks to highlight at the show is its certified preowned engine program, where it will, for dealers, or customers looking to buy an aircraft, examine the engine logbooks and the engine itself and issue a one-year/500-hour warranty on the approved powerplant. “This is a great value for our customers in making sure that they are buying a product that they know Pratt is standing behind,” said Densham, adding that for single-engine aircraft in particular, much of the value of the aircraft lies in the engine. “It also adds value to the aircraft if somebody is trying to sell it, to make sure that the value of the aircraft is maintained.”

The Montreal-based company has noted that with the continuing migration of highly experienced maintenance technicians from the GA industry, the task of properly rigging an engine has become somewhat of a dark art. To help resolve that, at this year’s show it is releasing the first in a series of videos on properly rigging the PT-6. Posted on the Youtube platform for unlimited consumption, the instructional videos, hosted by two of P&WC’s most experienced rigging experts, will take viewers on a step-by-step trip through the process.

“While we provide rigging training, we also wanted to make sure it is accessible to as many customers as possible,” Densham said. “We feel this is going to be a real cost saver out there because the last thing we want is for mechanics to be rigging an aircraft by trial-and-error, we want them to do it right the first time and every time, and that just translates to reduced maintenance costs.”  The first entry in the series will deal with the King Air family, with other aircraft types to follow.

Lastly, the company is again continuing its social media engagement during the show, offering prizes such as air display VIP viewing passes at its flight line chalet, through its media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.