| GENERAL ELECTRIC’S H80 TURBOPROP | A rugged turbine is made even better B Y DAV E H I R S C H M A N PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS ROSE Terry Humphrey has given many “on-wing” checkouts to pilots about to fly single-seat airplanes, and the General Electric H80 engine in the Thrush 510G agricultural aircraft makes his job especially easy. “This engine is closer to being pilot-proof than any turboprop I’ve ever seen,” said Humphrey, a veteran crop duster and the laid-back chief instructor pilot at Thrush Aircraft, an agricultural aircraft manufacturer in rural Albany, Georgia, near the southwestern corner of the state. “You’d have to be brain dead to mess up the start. And even if you do mess it up, the engine won’t let you hurt it.” www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 61http://www.aopa.org/pilot