P&WC Unveils PT9 Engine with Type Certification in Hand, ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ | October 21, 2026 Wednesday P&WC Unveils PT9 Engine with Type Certification in Hand Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) has taken the wraps off the PT9, a 2,000-shp clean-sheet turboprop engine that draws on the PT6 name but incorporates new architecture scalable to multiple platforms. The engine maker unveiled the centerline powerplant today at NBAA-BACE 2026, with Transport Canada certification already in hand. P&WC president Satheeshkumar Kumarasingam stressed the engine is neither a replacement for, nor a successor to, its venerable PT6 line, but is designed with new technologies that could adapt to future applications such as hybrid operations. With the PT9, Kumarasingam said, “We leaped ahead in this next-generation architecture and product line” to bring more modularity, scalability, and maintainability. Read more NASA Chief Touts X-59 Progress at NBAA-BACE Quiet supersonic flight and a moon race with China took center stage yesterday morning at the NBAA-BACE opening session. In a fireside chat with former space shuttle commander Charlie Precourt, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said flight testing of the X-59 supersonic noise demonstrator is going better than expected. Both men are longtime business jet pilots. Isaacman, who has logged more than 8,000 flight hours, set a round-the-world speed record for light jets in a Cessna Citation CJ2 in 2009 and co-founded adversary air training company Draken International. Precourt, a four-time space shuttle astronaut and NBAA board member, has more than 11,000 hours in more than 90 aircraft types, holds type ratings in several Citations, and chairs the Citation Jet Pilots Association’s safety committee. Read more EASA Validates Honda APMG S Upgrade Program The Honda Aircraft APMG S upgrade program is now available to owners of HondaJets registered in the European Union, following validation of the program by EASA. Authorized Honda and Honda Aircraft’s Greensboro, North Carolina service centers can install the update. Honda Aircraft has consistently offered upgrades that were designed for new HondaJet models to owners of older variants of the very light jet. “We are trying to have more points of satisfaction to our customers,” said Honda Aircraft president and CEO Hideto Yamasaki. Read more Skyband Taps Iridium To Handle GNSS Jamming, Spoofing Skyband Systems is seeking an FAA supplemental type certificate for a GPS jamming- and spoofing-resistant system that uses signals from the Iridium satellite network to provide an alternative navigation solution when global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are compromised. The Skyband M100 consists of an Iridium receiver coupled with an inertial sensor, and together the system could provide a backup navigation solution for the vulnerable and weak signals associated with GNSS. “We’re getting the raw Iridium positioning,” said Skyband co-founder and president Robert Wiggenhorn, “and we’re fusing that with a high-quality \[inertial measurement unit\]. What it’s doing is developing its own GPS-independent position solution.” At the same time, the M100 is looking at GNSS data on the aircraft’s Arinc 429 bus. “We’re comparing what the aircraft’s primary \[nav system\] now thinks its location is to our independent location, and if it sees a divergence, it flags that in two ways.” Read more Sponsor Content: RTX How will next-gen business aviation do more? Many innovations that reshaped commercial aviation—including heads-up displays that enhance situational awareness and expand airport access—originated in the world of business aviation. Today, Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, is building on that legacy, collaborating closely with aircraft makers to bring forward solutions that meet demanding performance requirements and open the door to more possibilities. Read more Dassault Launches EASy IV Upgrade for Falcon 2000s Dassault Aviation launched an EASy IV flight deck upgrade program for new-production Falcon 2000LXSs, as well as for retrofit in all EASy-equipped Falcon 2000 models, the manufacturer announced yesterday at NBAA-BACE. Available at the end of the decade, the upgrade brings the twinjet in line with the other Falcons with EASy IV avionics, including the Falcon 6X and 8X in forward fit and older Falcon 7X and 8X trijets in retrofit. Read more Daher Kodiak 900 Expands into Europe Daher Aircraft has handed over the first Kodiak 900 to a customer in Europe, the company announced on Monday at NBAA-BACE. Roland and Claudia Primus of Switzerland took delivery of the turboprop single at the Daher manufacturing plant in Sandpoint, Idaho, where the aircraft and its Kodiak 100 Series III sibling are manufactured and assembled. The French-headquartered airframer introduced the Kodiak 900—a larger, faster version of the original Kodiak 100—in 2022 with U.S. certification in hand. EASA approval followed in 2023, followed by Brazilian ANAC validation in 2025. Read more Blade Flies NBAA-BACE Attendees over Las Vegas Traffic Blade is again flying NBAA-BACE attendees by helicopter between the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Aircraft Connection static display at Henderson Executive Airport (KHND), while parent company Joby Aviation uses the show to promote the electric air taxis it plans to add to Blade’s network. Rides on the shuttle cost $195 for NBAA members and $245 for nonmembers during the show, which runs October 20 to 22. Those prices are unchanged from last year, when Blade returned to the show under Joby ownership. NBAA said the service has sold out in previous years. Read more Thrive Unveils First Fractional Fleet Aircraft Business aircraft charter, management, and maintenance provider Thrive Aviation on the eve of NBAA-BACE 2026 released photos showing off the first two aircraft in the livery of its newly launched fractional fleet. Last month, Thrive announced a strategic partnership and minority investment from Arulean Air—a purpose-created subsidiary of Honda Aircraft—establishing the foundation for a fractional ownership platform. Thrive will operate and manage the program, from client relationship management to flight operations, while Arulean will acquire aircraft for the fractional fleet. Read more The digital flip-through issues of AIN’s award-winning NBAA Convention News is now available online. It’s a great way to quickly scan the news from NBAA-BACE 2026, whether you’re in Las Vegas attending the show or watching from afar. 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