Flying doctors get help FAST

Australia’s flying doctors have turned to Pratt & Whitney Canada for help in supporting their life-saving missions and making their organisation more efficient.

Members of the Royal Flying Doctor Service’s south eastern section are adopting P&WC’s FAST prognostic solution to help them to optimise their operations, reduce costs, increase the availability of their fleet of Beechcraft King Air aircraft, and introduce predictive and preventative maintenance.

P&WC’s FAST solution, part of the company’s suite of digital engine services, provides data about engine health, usage and trends. It captures, analyses and wirelessly transmits high-density, full-flight data after each mission for more than 2,000 P&WC engines.

Three of the RFDS SE Section’s aircraft were equipped with FAST in April 2015, and used as sample aircraft to enable the technology to be certified for the Beechcraft Air King. Since final certification in May, another three aircraft have been equipped and there are plans to make several more installations next year.

“With the FAST solution, we can now understand more about how our aircraft operate, be more efficient, and provide a better experience for patients in the Australian Outback,” said David Charlton, general manager of aviation and strategic development, RFDS SE Section.

“We greatly value the opportunity to collaborate with P&WC because solutions like the FAST system help keep us at the forefront of safety and innovation in the Asia Pacific aeromedical sector.”

Tim Swail, vice president, customer programmes at P&WC, added: “The FAST engine health management solution is ideally suited to the RFDS, a long-time P&WC customer that continues to raise the bar as an adopter of digital technologies to support its life-saving missions and enhance its operations.”