Story ID: 380
Delayed Denali Adding Garmin Autoland Capability
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: Textron Aviation has revealed that the Denali turboprop will be certified in early 2025 and that the Denali will include Garmin Autoland capability.
Word Count: 975
According to Textron Aviation (Booth T26, Static Display AD_07), certification and service entry of its Beechcraft Denali will be further delayed until early 2025, following the planned certification of the aircraft’s GE Catalyst engine in late 2024. The Wichita airframer also announced that it has selected Garmin’s emergency Autoland as a standard feature for the $4.8 million turboprop single.

“Autoland is a great addition based on customer feedback,” said Textron Aviation senior v-p of global sales and flight operations Lannie O’Bannion. “We’re adding peace of mind to the Garmin G3000 cockpit with Autoland.”

The Denali is the first Textron Aviation aircraft selected for Garmin’s Autoland. “We’re excited to talk about Autoland on a Textron Aviation product finally,” said Garmin senior director of aviation sales and marketing Dan Lind. “It makes perfect sense to have the latest and greatest safety features possible [on the Denali].”

Autoland automatically lands the airplane at a suitable airport in case the pilot is incapacitated and it can be activated by a button to the right of the flight control panel under the glare shield or automatically if the pilot becomes unresponsive.

At NBAA-BACE in October, Textron Aviation said Denali certification would take place in the second half of 2024. After its first flight on Nov. 21, 2021, certification was pegged for 2023. Textron Aviation unveiled the Denali at EAA AirVenture in July 2016 and at the time planned for first flight in 2018.

The Denali is a clean-sheet design, as is its GE Aerospace Avio Aero Catalyst engine. Delivering 1,300 shp, the Catalyst is Fadec-controlled using a single power and propeller control. Textron Aviation is providing the Denali’s McCauley five-blade, full-feathering, and reverse-pitch composite propeller.

With a pressure ratio of 16:1, higher than that of typical engines in this class, the Catalyst burns 20 percent less fuel and delivers 10 percent more power, according to Paul Corkery, general manager of Avio Aero turboprop engines. So far, 26 Catalyst engines—four in flight testing—have accumulated more than 5,400 hours on the ground and in the air. Three Denali test aircraft have logged 1,300 hours over  540 flights. “It’s running great,” he said. “We’re very pleased with the performance.”

GE Aviation chief engineer and general manager Christopher Lorence explained the reasons for the engine certification delays, including new requirements for icing and super-cooled droplet testing and larger bird tests. “It’s taking a lot of capacity to do [this],” he said. “A lot has changed [in terms of] certification regulations. We’re almost three-quarters of the way through the test plan.” So far, 1,500 hours of certification testing, 16 of 22 certification tests, and 25 or 37 component tests have been completed, and certification reports for those are done, according to Lorence.

Corkery also cited supply-chain challenges in the Catalyst delays. “We had lots of supply challenges and headwinds,” he said. “This is the first new centerline engine in this class in decades. It’s a rigorous certification process, and this has moved us to late 2024.”

“We’re quietly making an incredible amount of progress,” said Textron Aviation chief test pilot Dustin Smisor. Flight testing has included hot-weather flights in Yuma, Arizona, and cold-weather testing in Iqaluit, Canada. “We’re very pleased with all the work put into designing this engine. It’s been extremely solid and reliable. We as test pilots go well above and beyond what normal pilots go through.”

This includes testing in-flight shutdowns, rapid accelerations and decelerations of power, and other extremes. “We have been super pleased with the reliability of this engine. Seeing this fuel efficiency, I’ve had to re-gauge myself because it doesn’t burn a lot of fuel,” he said.
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