SAVANNAH, Georgia – GE Aviation will extend the time between overhaul (TBO) for new production and in-service H Series turboprop engines to 4000 hours for Agriculture, Utility and Business Aviation Aircraft. As part of the TBO hourly extension, GE will also eliminate the engine TBO cyclic limit for all H Series engine. GE also announced improved warranty coverage of its H Series fuel control unit (FCU) to 2500 hours.

The standard H Series TBO is 3,600 hours and 6,600 cycles – whichever occurred first. Moving forward, TBO cycle limits for new production and in-service H Series engines will be removed and the hour limit will be increased over 10% to 4,000 hours. In addition, GE Aviation will extend the cyclic limit of life-limited H Series parts to a minimum of two TBO intervals, up to a maximum of 14,500 equivalent cycles. These TBO extensions we made possible by component testing and in-service experience, including data collected by the MVP-50 engine monitor unit installed in the 510G.

Since the H Series entered service in 2012, FCU warranties were limited to 1,000 hours or 1,000 cycles – whichever occurred first. The improved offering removes the H Series’ FCU cycle limit while more than doubling warranty times to 2,500 hours, resulting in significant cost of ownership savings.

“GE has conducted extensive testing of the H Series engine to validate and improve on the robust design,” said Norman Baker, President & Managing Executive of GE's Business & General Aviation Turboprops. “Our agricultural customers operate a very high cycle-to-hour ratio. By instituting lessons learned since service entry in 2012, we’ve removed cyclic limits while extending time between overhauls, helping our customers fly longer with superior performance.”

The H Series turboprop family incorporates GE's 3-D aerodynamic design techniques and advanced materials to create a powerful, fuel-efficient, durable engine with no recurrent fuel nozzle inspections and no hot section inspection for a multitude of uses: agricultural, business turboprops, commuter and utility aircraft. GE is also developing an integrated electronic engine control (EEC) for true single lever power control, and full auto-start capability to help ease pilot workload for H Series-powered aircraft. Certification of the EEC is expected in the first half of 2016 with the first application being the Nextant G90XT.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, components and integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings.