P&WC, Blackhawk Celebrate Sale of 500th PT6A Mod

Pratt & Whitney Canada and Blackhawk Modifications held a celebration ceremony at the engine manufacturer’s Montreal headquarters earlier this week highlighting Blackhawk’s 500th PT6A engine sale and the company’s 250th customer. Blackhawk began offering modifications to improve aircraft performance with PT6A upgrades in 1999. Dan Rogers of Franklin, N.C., is the 250th customer, with an upgrade to his Piper Cheyenne II. Rogers’s company, DuoTech Services, uses the Cheyenne to visit customers located in areas that are not well served by airlines. “Our customers are mainly at military installations, and they are not always easy to get to,” he said. Rogers also flies U.S. soldiers and their families for treatment at military hospitals and family visits as a volunteer pilot for Veterans Airlift. “Sometimes a soldier has not seen his or her children in a long time,” he said. “We’re here to support the families and the soldiers by providing transportation that the government won’t pay for. These guys are all heroes.”