“Entry-Level” Prop Plane Flies Like Private Jet with GE’s 3D Printing

GE Aviation put the 3D printing of end parts on the map when it unveiled the 3D-printed LEAP engine fuel nozzle in 2013. Since then, the component, meant to bring reductions in fuel consumption and emissions to a number of commercial airliners, has become a standard bearer for how 3D printing should be used to manufacture production parts.

Now, GE Aviation is applying the expertise it gained from developing the 3D-printed fuel nozzle to producing end parts for smaller-sized aircraft. The company has partnered with Textron Aviation on a new propeller-powered business aircraft meant to combine the luxury of a private jet with the cost of a prop plane.

The Cessna Denali is a prop plane designed to fly like a private jet. (Image courtesy of Textron Aviation.)

The Cessna Denali is designed to be a $4.8 million propeller plane capable of flying from Los Angeles to Chicago or New York to Miami. The price may be too high for just about any ordinary traveler, but those who have managed to survive in this harsh economy may notice that $4.8 million is a far cry from the tens to hundreds of million dollars that most private jets cost.

The plane's engine is the result of seven years of design. After purchasing Czech turboprop engine builder Walter Aircraft Engines, GE Aviation set to work creating a new engine to help the engine manufacturer fill the private jet and prop aircraft niche. The end product is an engine capable of delivering up to 1,650 shaft horsepower—10 percent more power than other engines in the same class. At the same time, GE Aviation was able to reduce fuel consumption by 20 percent.

GE Aviation managed to consolidate hundreds of parts into a handful of components with 3D printing. (Image courtesy of GE Aviation.)

To pull it off, GE consolidated hundreds of individual components into a small number of 3D-printed titanium and steel parts. The company also featured technologies typically found in jet engines that had never been incorporated into a prop plane. These include variable stator vanes, meant for supersonic jets, that were able to increase the efficiency of the engine.

interior of the Cessna Denali resembles that of a private jet. (Image courtesy of Textron Aviation.)

GE Aviation ultimately found a partner in Textron Aviation, the largest manufacturer of business propeller planes, to feature the engine in the company's new aircraft, the Cessna Denali. The Cessna Denali is meant to resemble a private jet both in terms of aesthetics and flying style. While the eight-person interior has the feel of a jet, both the engine and propeller will be controlled with a single lever, similar to how a jet is flown.

The first Cessna Denali won't fly until 2018, but the aircraft is already available for preorder. According to GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt, the aircraft will create $40 billion in revenue for the company over the next 25 years.