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Cessna Citation Ascend to Use a New Kind of Pratt & Whitney Engine

There are a number of popular names in the aviation industry, but for flights of a more business-like nature, few of those names are as appreciated as Cessna. Established in 1927 and presently owned by Textron, the company is the go-to supplier of aircraft for charter, personal transportation and corporate flights.
Pratt & Whitney engine for the Cessna Citation Ascend 10 photos
Photo: Pratt & Whitney
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At the time of writing Cessna is offering airplanes for all needs and budgets, powered by all of the means available to the industry: piston, turboprop, and jet engines. It's the latter category that's of interest to us today, as one of its members, the Citation, is about to expand its reach.

The Cessna Citation plays the business jet game, and has done so ever since 1972. To date, some 8,000 of them left the assembly lines in several configurations. There are at the moment five of them available (Longitude, Latitude, CJ4 Gen2, CJ3+, and M2 Gen2), capable of carrying anywhere from seven to 12 passengers to distances of up to 4,000 miles (6,400 km). A sixth one, the Citation Ascend, is fast approaching, after being announced by Textron on May 22.

The new variant of the plane will begin flying in the skies above our heads in 2025, but we already know one key component that will go into making it: the engine. As before, the powerplant will be produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada, and it's part of the PW500 turbofan family.

Called PW545D, it's a piece of tech that is just entering the market, and has been designed to provide "improved specific fuel consumption (SFC), thrust and time between overhauls (TBO)." We're not given exact details as to what each of those elements means, but we do have enough to form a general idea.

As far as fuel consumption and emissions are concerned, the engine was designed to run partially (50 percent) on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Then, the time between overhauls sits at a reasonable 6,000 hours.

Although the exact power levels of the engine are not known, it should make the Ascend reach cruise speeds of up to 507 mph (141 kph). The engines work to altitudes of up to 45,000 feet (almost 14,000 meters) and, when the plane sits just four passengers, they should keep doing so for as much as 2,186 miles (3.518 km).

Compared to other powerplants from its family, the PW545D's design has changed a bit, It uses a redesigned high-pressure compressor to allow more air in. A bettered, single-stage, high-pressure turbine module has also been added, while fuel consumption and noise are reduced by means of an "enhanced exhaust mixer."

Just to give you an idea of how important the new engine is for both Pratt & Whitney and for Cessna, consider the family it is part of already has 4,600 examples in operation, which have reached a total of 22 million flight hours combined.

Together with all the other engines Pratt & Whitney Canada ever produced, we're told the company will celebrate 1 billion flight hours later this year. For reference, that's 114,000 years...
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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