GE Aerospace’s Catalyst turboprop engine is meeting and exceeding its targeted performance numbers and is on track for FAA certification by year-end, the company said this week at EAA AirVenture 2024. The engine powers Textron Aviation’s Beechcraft Denali single-engine turboprop, which is set for certification next year. Both are on display at AirVenture, although this is the first time the GE display is hosting the actual engine instead of a mockup.
Engines in the flight-test program have logged more than 2,100 hours and 900 flights, which “gives a lot of confidence in the performance,” noted Paul Corkery, head of GE's Catalyst program. Compared to other 1,300-shp powerplants, he said the GE engine burns 18% less fuel while producing 10% more power at altitude.
Catalyst's Fadec engine controls, adapted from systems on larger GE turbine engines, are integrated with the Denali’s Garmin G3000 avionics and autothrottle, enabling Textron Aviation engineers to design a single-lever power control. This simplifies the workload for the pilot and protects the engine from exceeding critical parameters.
The $6.95 million Denali first flew on Nov. 21, 2021, and certification was planned for 2023, but delays in the Catalyst program pushed that to 2025. According to Corkery, “We faced tough new regulations that were more challenging than expected.” These had to do with ice crystal and super-cooled liquid droplet mitigation. “We had to bring in very experienced folks to get those [requirements] over the line,” he said. “Those were big headwinds. But we feel we’ve mitigated the risk to get certification by the end of the year.”
For FAA certification, the Catalyst had to complete 23 key engine-level tests, and 19 of those are done. The remaining four—covering endurance, vibration, blade-out, and compressor operability—are underway in four separate test cells. “We expect all that testing to be wrapped up by the end of the third quarter,” Corkery said, “then we’ll be finalizing and submitting the final reports.”
Meanwhile, GE is standing up its service infrastructure to support the Catalyst once the Denali begins shipping. The production readiness phase is also underway, and GE has already built 35 engines. “We’ll deliver what Textron Aviation needs,” he said. “We’re aligned with their schedule.”