Power Flow Systems reported recently that the Tuned Exhaust System they developed specifically for Cessna’s popular Cardinal 177RG, at the behest of the Cardinal Flyer’s On-Line (CFO) owner’s group (CardinalFlyers.com), has succeeded in the market well beyond anybody’s expectations.
Initially, the company was reluctant to pursue the costly and time consuming STC process for the RG airframe. This was due to an internal analysis that indicated there were too few 177RG’s in the GA fleet to constitute a viable market. It was only after considerable and persistent persuasion from CFO’s principals that Power Flow re-considered and introduced their STC’d system for the 177RG in 2009.
Since that time, more than 180 of the firm’s Tuned Exhaust Systems have been shipped and are now flying on 177RG’s worldwide. That amounts to 20 percent of the Cardinal RG fleet. Chief among the documented performance improvements for the RG are: a 10 – 15 percent improvement in the aircraft’s rate of climb and an increase of 2,000 – 5,000 feet in the service ceiling, allowing RG owners to cruise higher and faster, with maximum fuel efficiency.
As Darren Tilman, Power Flow’s General Manager noted: “It is encouraging to me to experience firsthand the extent to which our ‘Bolt-On Horsepower’ upgrade has been embraced by this discriminating group of fellow pilots”.
