GE Aviation Czech will start certification testing of its new H80 turboprop engine later this year. The engine is based on the Walter Aircraft Engines M601, produced in the Czech Republic since 1975.

For more than 20 years, GE had a financial interest in and worked collaboratively on turboprop projects with Walter Aircraft Engines, the venerable, Prague-based engine builder, prior to acquiring the company a year ago The acquisition is part of GE’s effort to compete more effectively against the Pratt & Whitney PT6 engine family, which dominates the small turboprop market worldwide. GE reportedly wants to boost production in the Czech Republic to about 1,000 per year, a huge increase over Walter’s 120-engine annual production rate.

The H80 will produce up to 800 shaft horsepower and is intended for use on utility, agriculture and business and general aviation aircraft. GE described the project as “a collaborative effort of engineers at GE Aviation's Evendale, Lynn and Czech Republic facilities." Brad Mottier, vice president and general manager of the Business and General Aviation organization at GE Aviation said, "The team took the elegant and robust design of the Walter M601 engine and incorporated GE's 3-D aerodynamic design techniques and advanced materials to create a more powerful, fuel-efficient, durable turboprop engine."

The advanced design techniques and advanced materials were applied principally to the engine's compressor. GE said the engine also includes flow-path and material improvements to the turbine nozzle guide vanes. The two-stage axial flow compressor also includes an innovative turbine blisk design. A blisk is a turbine disk and blade machined from a single piece or metal; or a disk to which the turbine blades have been welded.

The builders claim the H80 “will produce more shaft-horsepower, improved fuel efficiency and increased temperature margin, significantly enhancing hot-day takeoff performance and high-altitude cruise speeds.” The engine is expected to deliver a service life of 3,600 flight-hours and 6,600 cycles between overhauls, GE said.

Components of the H80 have already been tested through more than 3,000 cycles during hot section demonstration tests in Prague. Additional tests of the assembled engine will take place this summer and fall. Certification testing should begin later this year and certification is expected in early 2010.

Since the summer of 2008, GE Aviation Czech s.r.o has moved to a new, 135,000 square-foot facility in Prague. The plant also has new engine test cells and about 400 employees. For many years, Walter occupied an almost 100-year-old factory in Prague, but that building was not included in the GE acquisition. The former Walter company built more than 37,000 engines, and the M601 turboprop family has attained 17 million flight-hours on 30 applications since 1975.

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