Ever since the Wright Brothers made history in 1903, engineers have been pushing the boundaries of flight and helping people realize their passion for soaring with the birds. Teams of engineers in Longueuil, Quebec and Mississauga, Ontario are proving when it comes to flight, the sky's the limit!

The advances that engineering have made possible in the aerospace industry are simply staggering. The engineers at Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) are part of that remarkable evolution, with innovative research and development. When Montreal businessman James Young founded the company in 1928, he never dreamed it would grow to become the world's leading manufacturer of small and medium-sized gas turbine aviation engines. Today, an aircraft fitted with P&WC engines takes off or lands somewhere in the world as often as you blink!

Engineering at P&WC began in the 1950s, when a team of bright, young aeronautical and mechanical engineers and technicians designed and built a lightweight, low-cost, gas turbine engine that surpassed all others for reliability, power, fuel-efficiency and ease of maintenance. Today, that free turbine design, or "PT6," boasts one of the best power-to-weight ratio of all turboprops in the western world.

These engineers continue to test the limits of aerospace technology with new innovations like the PW300 series of jet engines. Considered among the best in the world, they're designed to power mid-size business jets.

Many different kinds of engineers are involved in the complex design, testing and building of an engine.

· Aeronautical engineers experiment with different designs to find safer, quieter, more efficient models.

· Modern jet engines have thousands of components. Mechanical engineers are on the teams that design each one, building them to ensure all the parts fit and work together perfectly. They also design the machinery that will be used to build the engine in the factory.

· Aerodynamics engineers usually belong to a specialized group that works on a specific component of the engine design, such as the compressor, combustion chamber or turbine. They also plan and control experimental research programs directed towards providing new knowledge for future engines.

· Design engineers use their creative skills to determine the size, shape, structure, arrangement and function of the parts of the engine. They also have to keep in mind the power and weight requirements of the type of plane for which the engine is being designed. They create a complete mechanical configuration of the engine so that it meets specifications.

· Manufacturing engineers work closely with the design engineers to make sure the engine can be manufactured quickly and easily. They plan the tooling, construction and assembly of engine parts.

· Metallurgical and chemical engineers develop and control the quality of materials and processes used to manufacture the engines. This involves working hands-on with different kinds of metals, chemicals and state-of-the-art processing such as laser machining, heat treatment, coating, welding, surface treatments and specialized cleaning.

Canada enjoys a long history and a bright future in research, design and development of aircraft and the engines that power them. Building for the future needs of flight also means dedicating resources to research and development (R&D). P&WC is one of Canada's most important private sector investors in this area, spending more than $295 million in 1999. This makes them the largest R&D investor in Canada's aerospace sector, and the second largest private R&D investor in Canada.

Want to know more about aerospace technology? Visit the Pratt & Whitney Canada website at www.pwc.ca