Hey look, another turbine engine

[Sig600]

http://www.avweb.com/news/snf/SunNFun2012_Light_Weight_Turbine_206386-1.html

Would be nice if one panned out. Innodyne looked promising, and that was a bust.

These guys at least have some history with UAV's. Only 240 HP (for RV-10) but it's only 125 lbs. Will be interesting to watch.

 

[clevtool]

Pretty neat. Uses lots of fuel though.

 

[panhandler1956]

Pretty neat. Uses lots of fuel though.

Yep, the turbines are cool, but are generally too expensive to buy and burn too much gas.

 

[airguy]

Would be a lot of fun in a Rocket though!

 

[Mike S]

Would be a lot of fun in a Rocket though!

Why give up 60--100 HP, and screw up the W/B at the same time???

Now, in a RV 3 however-----just have to figure out the fuel situation.

 

[Mel]

Why give up 60--100 HP, and screw up the W/B at the same time???
Now, in a RV 3 however-----just have to figure out the fuel situation.

And VNE limits!

 

[Got2Fly]

Visited their booth

Instopped by their booth today at sun n fun to chat for a bit. They had the partially completed rv10 their with the turbine mounted sans accessories, electrical and plumbing. The engine looked pretty tiny in the engine space, and was mounted a good bit forward of where a 540 would be - most likely for the w&b. The guy did say that the engine would be rated at 240 HP. He also stated that 240 is the max HP and the engine is not derated. I asked about price and was told to expect $100k for the engine & firewall forward + 13k for prop. They expect to have it flying at Osh in the fall and available some time next year. It will be fun to watch, but at that price I'm not sure it will make sense.

 

[[email protected]]

Price...

The 100k gets you an unproven engine and firewall forward package that may not be included in the cost with an initial 1,000 hour TBO that hopes to be extended to 3,000 from service experience. I asked what is driving the cost... Ve need to recoup development costs... Pass.

 

[Sig600]

Agreed. I could see it being a contender with a new 540 at like $60-70K, but all things considered unless you're just really tied up in the cool factor of having a turbine, and have the cash, I'd pass too. Although turbine engines are soooooo much easier to operate!

 

[Kevin Horton]

Although turbine engines are soooooo much easier to operate!

A well designed turbine engine is easy to operate. Many of the early turbine engines had issues with compressor stalls or EGT exceedences during acceleration which required very careful throttle lever management. We don't know yet whether this one is well designed or poorly designed.

 

[Sig600]

Still have to watch EGT and RPM/torque limits in modern PT-6's, still much easier to operate IMHO. YMMV.