BLR Aerospace says demand for its fixed wing and rotor wing aircraft systems continues to grow despite the global pandemic. Through the first three quarters of 2021 BLR says it surpassed its sales targets across all product lines, offering certified performance and safety enhancements. It remains focused on bringing more products to market including the Winglet system for the King Air E90 and early C90 fleets as well as the five-bladed Whisper Prop system for the Beech 1900C/D, model 99 and the King Air 100, all scheduled to be FAA certified by the end of 2021.

The five-bladed Whisper Prop is constructed with a structural resin-infused wood core that is wrapped in carbon-fibreglass skins. Each blade is finished with a nickel-cobalt leading edge, and BLR says this provides three times more damage resistance than aluminium. The short diameter of the Whisper Prop protects the aircraft from foreign object damage. It claims the wood core eliminates vibration by more than 50% and decreases the overall wear and cost of operation, including repairs, compared to the foam core composite propeller that comes standard on the aircraft. Additionally, BLR claims it improves take-off performance by 4.3%, has lower Vmca, has no ground RPM limitation and requires no FAA imposed regular inspections.

BLR’s Winglet system is an aluminium wing tip, carbon fibre winglet with integrated position, recognition and strobe LED lighting. It says the Winglet system increases overall wingspan and wing aspect ratio to reduce induced drag for faster flight on less fuel as well as improved handling qualities. More than 1,000 Winglet systems are installed on King Air 90, 200 and 300 and Duke aircraft operating worldwide.

“The team at BLR is working to increase the availability of our performance enhancing systems to operators worldwide. Despite increased demand and supply chain challenges we have kept up with our delivery commitments. We are also grateful for the positive recognition we’ve received throughout the aerospace community for our performance enhancing system and are proud to continue our partnership with the world’s most innovative aircraft propeller company, MT-Propeller,” says Mike Carpenter, president of BLR Aerospace.

“Our goal was to significantly reduce cabin noise and change the flight experience in our King Air,” declares Darrel Whittaker, operator, and recent purchaser of the BLR Whisper Prop for the King Air 90. “I’ve had people on the ramp notice how quiet they are, and I can now fly the plane with the old handset and cockpit speakers without a headset. The quietness and smoothness of these props is jet like and I now must close the cockpit partition if passengers want to enjoy a private conversation because I can hear everything they’re saying from the cockpit and vice versa.”