DULUTH, MINN. – Kestrel Aircraft Company has selected the Honeywell TPE331-14GR engine to power its new all-composite, single-engine, pressurized turboprop aircraft. The Kestrel mission is to combine high cruise speed and long range, while carrying large payloads in and out of short runways, with particular attention to ease and cost of operation. The TPE331-14GR produces 1759 thermodynamic horsepower, but the Kestrel will flat rate the engine to approximately 1000 shaft horsepower, to allow for better high altitude, high temperature performance.
Kestrel Chairman and CEO, Alan Klapmeier, noted that equally important in their decision to select the Honeywell powerplant was to find a company that would be a good team member.
Klapmeier left Cirrus Aircraft in 2009 after he was unsuccessful in acquiring the Cirrus Vision SF50 personal jet program. He became CEO of Kestrel in 2010. The Kestrel is in the same class as a TBM 850 and can compete in the light jet market in speed and efficiency. The six to eight-seat, all-composite aircraft cruises at speeds around 350 kts up to 31,000 feet. The company is headquartered in Brunswick, Maine, with additional offices in Duluth, Minnesota (www.kestrel.aero).