Air Plains Introduces 3-Point Primer For Its Lycoming 180hp Engine STC

Wellington, KS (March 7, 2023) – Air Plains Services, a world leader in general aviation engine and avionics upgrades, has developed a new three-point engine primer kit for its 180hp engine upgrade STC, providing enhanced cold engine starts compared with the standard single-point primer.

“Our new three-cylinder primer is particularly effective in cold-weather locations, but it gives anyone a smoother, quicker start,” said Katie Church, Air Plains president. “If you have an Air Plains 172XP 180hp upgrade that was done prior to 2021, it’s very likely the original primer system was reinstalled with the new engine. While the previous process works just fine for most customers, we wanted to develop an option that was even more reliable for cold-weather customers.”

Air Plains engineers worked directly with Lycoming to develop the new primer system to be compatible with the more than 2,700 existing 172XP 180hp upgrades, and to be an option for new customers. Air Plains also worked with Lycoming to develop the installation manual.

The standard primer uses a single nozzle in the #3 cylinder for priming while the new kit adds nozzles for cylinders #2 and #4.

The new three-point primer is one of the new products to be featured by Air Plains at the annual Sun ‘N Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Fla., March 28 through April 2. Air Plains will be in a larger exhibit space this year- MD-23 - and will show off several customer airplanes featuring various Air Plains upgrades.

For more information about any of Air Plains products or services, call 1-800-752-8481 or +1-620-326-8904, visit www.airplains.com. For online shopping, visit the Air Plains web store at https://shopairplains.com.