Sept. 20, 2017, © Leeham Co., Montreal: Pratt & Whitney Canada FAST system monitoring for engines on regional airliners is also part of its general and corporate aviation and helicopter customer support.

FAST isn’t an acronym. It describes the intent of quickly responding to issues that arise and to identify issues that are trending before these create a serviceability problem.

“We are continuing to develop the FAST system, which transmits health monitoring parameters and can reduce maintenance costs, Frederic Lefebvre, VP-Marketing for Regional Airlines, told LNC during our visit to PWC last week.

The trickle-down

In the world that LNC lives in, airline service is the default when thinking of real-time health monitoring. In PWC, this “trickles down to general aviation, business aviation and helicopters,” Lefebvre said. The PW 127/150 series is on the Bombardier Q400 and ATR airliners.

Pratt & Whitney Canada’s FAST health monitoring system is on more than 50% of the Bombardier Q400 fleet.

FAST is on more than 50% of the Q400 fleet. It takes a few days to install the system.

PWC engines serve a wide variety of airliners, bush airplanes, general and business aviation aircraft and helicopters. The PT-6A is the most widely used engine in the PWC portfolio of engines, including on helicopters.

A major goal of FAST is identify problems before they become problems and result in aircraft on ground (AOG) time, and to reduce LRUs or Line Removal Lists, Lefebvre said.

FAST monitors propellers balance, oil analysis and a host of other systems. The TBO (time between overhaul) dramatically has increased through FAST.

C-First

FAST is part of the C-First (C for Customer) monitoring and rapid response system described Sept. 12.

“Our goal with FAST is to increase the level of pro-active response,” said Tim Swail, Vice President of Customer Programs. “FAST has proved itself in two demanding markets,” including the Q400 (PW150), getting ahead of maintenance squawks, improving utilization of the turboprop.

FAST is in all Falcon 7X jets (PW307A).