It seems a little bit "too good". But, interesting for sure. The dinosaur Lycoming I now fly now will be obsolete one day. Maybe these guys will be the next players.

Nice! What's the price range on these?

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. I've reached out to them for additional information.

I'm sure if these work out they could be a very viable option for the experimentals in the US! What was the base cost to purchase before installation and everything? I'd love one of those in the Mooney! haha maybe if that part 23 change happens

Here's a point to consider:

When was the most recent clean sheet of paper aircraft engine designed and put into production, that continued in production for more than ten years?

Probably made by Rotax, though their aircraft engines probably aren't clean sheet designs.

Designing a successful aircraft engine is difficult, even if you're not concerned about certifying it. Look at a couple of the Exp. engines that are out there today....that have had numerous "teething" problems, and it rapidly becomes questionable whether they can stay in business..

An old aviation truism goes something like this: "Don't ever fly the "A Model" of anything"

I'd wait till they've got a bit of a track record.....could be a very expensive lesson if the engines don't work out for whatever reason, or if the company fails.

MTV

A guy at my airport was building a Lancair 4P and decided to out some sort of converted car engine in it that was gonna be the next big thing. They ran into money problems, and he not only paid up front for the engine but I believe he invested some money in the company also. Well, they went tits up in spite of that and there he was out a buncha dough, still with no engine. Ended up putting in a twin-turbo'd IO550, which while not cheap at least he actually got it and it works.
I hope these promising diesel engines come through, but (no offense to south Africa) even with government financial backing I'm not gonna hold my breath on this one. Seen too many others peter out.

I'm going to be at Lanseria later in the week, too bad they are in Durban.
One thing I noticed is there is no mention, one way or the other, of them building a certified engine. Did they talk about that with you?

It would be awesome if the engine lives up to those numbers, however I am a bit skeptical. 65% power for the 280 HP model (182 hp) at 9 gph means a specific fuel consumption around .296 lbs/hp/hr (plus or minus depending on std vs non-std day). A quick check on wiki has a list of SFC for several engines. The best petrol engine listed is the one used in the Toyota Prius (.362 lbs/hp/hr). The only engines near or below .3 are diesel (has more energy per lb) and the only engines below .3 are the most efficient piston engines in existence today which put out over 100,000 hp, redline at 102 rpm, and weigh up to 2300 tonnes.

That could be a game changer if it lives up to those numbers, but I'm not holding my breath

Thank you for the pricing SA Maule.

Holy cow! I think a Lycoming is cheaper and you could get a prop with it! Yikes! Unless that's like not USD and something like YEN!

The USD is very weak. In Japan they have to purposely devalue the Yen so Americans can purchase products from Japan.

In most exchanges, countries are finding out they must give an "inflated" value to the USD or Americans will shop elsewhere. It helps us purchase items for less sometimes but, we lose out on manufacturing technologies. Most say F it, I want cheap shit at WalMart. Keep the USD artificially strong and my kids will pay off the debt.

$16,787,451,118,147 is what we owe right now as of October 2014

This what the site I look at says today. $17,975,000,000.
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

180Marty wrote:This what the site I look at says today. $17,975,000,000.
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Crap! Oh Well!

The info Carl sent be about the 280N:

Our 280N is 280 horse power, naturally aspirated and watercooled. It weighs in at just over 280 pounds fully dressed without fluids. It's a fuel injected, 120 degree V6 with double overhead cams and is fully aerobatic capable. It can run on avgas, ethanol blended fuels and regular petroleum down to 89 octane. We have been running ours on 95 unleaded. You could expect a fuel consumption of 9 gph in the cruise at 65% power. It is expected to cost about $100 in parts/spares for a 50 hour service and a full top to bottom overhaul is expected to cost around $10 000.

On paper is looks like it would work well in a Bearhawk but for $65K I'll pass.

This looks like a very nice and well thought out program but very expensive for the average guy. The Auto PSR unit(former Geared Drives system) on the other hand gives you 350+ hp in a complete system including mounts, cowling and rads for 39K, seems much more realistic and you can buy chevy parts anywhere.

autopsrus.com

I wonder if those weights & prices include the radiator system and oil system, or is that purely an accessorized core?

I also wonder about the inbuilt PSRU, those things seem to give grief when attached to a big propellor?

I think his numbers should be with water and oil. I know that our Bearhawk with the 4.6 landrover was complete firewall forward including mount,exhaust,water and oil was 540 lbs. and the cg was 20" off the firewall and his package is very similar.

8GCBC wrote:

180Marty wrote:This what the site I look at says today. $17,975,000,000.
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Crap! Oh Well!

I will go visit my grandkids next week. I think I shouldn't tell them what a mess we're leaving them. Right now, they actually like me.

Cary

Cary wrote:

8GCBC wrote:

180Marty wrote:This what the site I look at says today. $17,975,000,000.
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Crap! Oh Well!

I will go visit my grandkids next week. I think I shouldn't tell them what a mess we're leaving them. Right now, they actually like me.

Cary

Maybe there is a way to get another family member to tell them! Or a teacher at school? Oh, well. I actually own a few (30) year bonds from the US Treasury so I can also thank them.