Diamond Aircraft has selected Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6A-25C engine to power its new DART-750 aircraft, an all-carbon fiber tandem turboprop aerobatic trainer.
“After careful consideration, we came to the conclusion that an adjustment of the DART program was necessary in order to move forward with the aircraft certification process,” says Liqun (Frank) Zhang, CEO Diamond Aircraft Austria. “In order to meet our target timeline and as the window of opportunity on the market as well as with interested customers is limited, we decided – in close consultation with our R&D department – to pursue our DART program with the proven and certified 750 SHP PT6A-25C turboprop engine from Pratt & Whitney Canada.”
The original Diamond DART 450 was powered by the 495-hp Ivchenko-Progress Motor Sich AI-450S turboprop, while the Diamond DART 550 was powered by the 550-hp General Electric GE H75-100 turboprop.
EASA certification of the aerobatic trainer is expected by the end of 2023.