News
RFDS to use P&WC’s FAST solution for Beechcraft King Air fleet
Australia's famed Royal Flying Doctor Service South Eastern (RFDS SE) Section is adopting Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC)'s FAST (Full flight data Acquisition, Storage and Transmission) prognostic solution to help optimize its operations, reduce costs, increase the availability of its fleet of PT6A-powered Beechcraft King Air aircraft and bring new efficiencies to their aeromedical organization through predictive and preventive maintenance. P&WC is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
October 10, 2017 By P&WC
“The FAST engine health management solution is ideally suited to the RFDS, a long-time P&WC customer that continues to raise the bar as an adopter of digital technologies to support their life-saving missions and enhance its operations,” said Tim Swail, Vice President, Customer Programs, P&WC. “We are committed to delivering tailored, data-driven services to our customers that drive greater engine and aircraft availability, reduce costs, and help optimize their maintenance environment.”
The FAST solution, under P&WC’s expanding suite of digital engine services, continues to enhance engine and aircraft “connectivity” through its ability to provide situational awareness about engine health, usage and trends. It captures, analyzes and wirelessly transmits high-density, full-flight data after each mission for over 2,000 P&WC engines.
In April 2015 three of the RFDS SE Section’s aircraft were equipped and utilized as sample aircraft to enable P&WC’s FAST technology to be certified for Beechcraft King Air aircraft. Since final certification in May 2017, another three aircraft have been equipped and there are plans in place for several more installations of the FAST solution in 2018.
“With the FAST solution we can now understand more about how our aircraft operate, be more efficient and provide a better experience for patients in the Australian Outback,” said David Charlton, General Manager of Aviation and Strategic Development, RFDS SE Section. “We greatly value the opportunity to collaborate with P&WC because solutions like the FAST system help keep us at the forefront of safety and innovation in the Asia Pacific aeromedical sector.”
P&WC’s FAST solution is available for numerous aircraft platforms in general aviation, regional airlines, business jets and helicopters. Other recent enhancements to FAST include propeller vibration trend monitoring for regional airline customers, enabling on-board event detection and crew alerts, turbine blade creep counting, as well as automated power assurance checks for helicopter operators.
