The Boeing Co.’s giant 747, 767 and 777 assembly plant in Everett and its new 787 airliner have made Snohomish County a global center for new aerospace technology. Yet Dave Cort’s Precision Engines LLC at Paine Field is still specializing in the high-tech aviation realm of 50 years ago.
“That’s when DC-6s and other aircraft were powered by the latest high-tech radial piston engines,” Cort said. “In today’s age of giant jet engines, we’ve established a reputation as a world leader in keeping warbirds and other piston-engine aircraft flying because of our expertise with radials.”
For more than 50 years, Precision Engines has serviced radial engines at Paine Field, in the same building but under a variety of names and owners, Cort said.
“Today we’re one of the best-equipped facilities in the world for overhauling and repairing radial engines. We keep old Corsairs, Canadian Bombardier CL-215 fire bombers and other aircraft flying, particularly any plane with Pratt and Whitney and Curtis Wright radials.”
As a major source for radial engine know-how, parts and service, the company is invaluable to cargo fleets, nostalgia operators, collectors and museums throughout the world, with customers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Engines supported by the company include Pratt &Whitney’s R2800, R1830 and R2000 and Curtis Wright’s R1820 and R3350 in a variety of civilian models and all military versions.
The building Precision Engines leases from Paine Field once was a maintenance facility for Alaska Airlines. The equipment in it was sold to private owners in 1964 when the airline moved its fleet of DC-6s south to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. In later years, the engine repair business was renamed several times under different operators, finally becoming known as Precision Airmotive in 1981 and then Precision Engines Corp. in 1996.
That was the year Cort was hired as general manager, bringing with him 16 years of experience working on DC-6s and DC-3s in Alaska, where he was a pilot as well as an airframe and power plant-certified mechanic. In 2004, the company’s two major focuses were separated into two companies, Precision Engines LLC and Precision Fuel Components LLC, with Cort as president.
“Our fuel components business began in the mid-1980s when the company’s owners were concerned about supplies and service support for radial-engine carburetors, finding it difficult to get good diaphragms, among other things,” he said. “That’s when they made arrangements with Bendix and others to gain the right to manufacture those old parts.”
Today, Precision Engines is the only source for original, factory-new Bendix-Stromberg pressure carburetor parts and makes internal engine parts that have become hard to find, primarily for Pratt &Whitney radials, guaranteeing the ability to keep those radial engines in use for many years to come. Accessories kept in stock for radial engines include starters, generators, actuators and motors, along with fuel pumps and switches, cylinders, thermostats and oil-pressure regulators.
The company’s worldwide reputation for excellence continues to come from its expert workmanship, advanced overhaul equipment and strict standards of quality control, he said, noting that Precision Engines has the most modern radial-engine test facility in the industry.
“Our precise overhaul standards are even more stringent than those set by Pratt and Whitney. We really maintain that kind of quality, including publishing our own recommendations on oiling and caring for these engines,” Cort said.
The firm’s quality work comes from its seasoned professionals, who average around 15 years at the company, he said. His present problem is finding qualified people who know how to service radial-piston engines.
“This new generation doesn’t work with their hands. They’re not mechanically inclined. That’s the challenge for us,” he said.
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